


my heart is ablaze

by Ghost Guardian (AsexualAce)



Category: Winx Club
Genre: (bloom will be dating the all of the winx and sky! im poly and i want representation dammit), Alfea (Winx Club), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Female Character, F/F, F/M, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Time Travel, Trans Female Character, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 08:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18517591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsexualAce/pseuds/Ghost%20Guardian
Summary: Bloom wakes quietly. It almost seems like a normal day. It’s not though, and that’s purely because she’s back in her 16 year old body, on Earth, and she can’t feel her Enchantix powers.“Well, fuck.”(alternatively, bloom wakes up after defeating the Ancestral Witches in the obsidian dimension, and she has to work her way back up and beyond what she once was.)





	1. the beginning of what once was

**Author's Note:**

> some of the headcanons i put in are from @emsartwork on tumblr! she does fantastic work and her headcanons and art are both amazing. please go check her out! anyway, thank you for reading and i appreciate it :)

The sun is shining on Gardenia, a deep and golden hue that bathes the whole city in light. It’s a gorgeous summer morning, full of promises and adventure. There’s a tinge of excitement in the air, a tinge of magic. And it flows through the air, flows through Bloom, and that's enough to force her from her dreaming state. 

Bloom wakes quietly. It almost seems like a normal day. It’s not though, and that’s purely because she’s back in her 16 year old body, on Earth, and she can’t feel her Enchantix powers. 

“Well, fuck.” That’s the first thing Bloom mutters as she quickly stands and tests all her limbs to see if they’re working. She pinches her face, just to make sure she’s not dreaming.

‘Okay,’ Bloom thinks. ‘This might just be a test or a hallucination, like in the simulations at Alfea that I did when I was working on my Charmix. This could be a dream, or I could be seeing flashes of my life before I die.’

She mulls over it for a minute as she stands in her bedroom, tapping her lips and pursing her lips, shifting her weight from hip to hip.

‘Wait, what was the last thing I was doing before I woke up?’ Bloom suddenly thinks. She's scared to know the answer. 

It flows into her head like a dream- maybe it was- but she remembers the noise of shattering glass, the ground breaking beneath her, the crumbling and the shocked face of Sky as they plummet from the rapidly disintegrating Obsidian Dimension, and into the void- she feels magic sweep through her system, overloading her, overloading her magic and threatening to send her into a supernova, and she screams-

Oh.

She died, after destroying the Obsidian Dimension to save her planet, her parents, and the universe. 

She can feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she chokes back a small sob- she died, she sacrificed herself, she went through two or three years of her life, trials and tribulations- and here she is, right back at the start. 

It’s so hard not to start crying right then and there.

Bloom sits down heavily on the floor. Why would she be sent back, then? There has to be an explanation- some sort of reason. She wipes her eyes and starts dreaming up some ideas. 

A few minutes of thinking later, Bloom has some theories. One, it could have all been a long dream. Bloom dismisses it, mostly because it’s really unlikely for her to remember that whole dream. And it was far too realistic for it to be a dream. 

Two, she could have been in a coma, but that’s also unlikely because she would have woken up in a hospital, with IV needles and the incessant beeping of a heart monitor.

The last theory makes the most sense to her- The magic from the disintegrating Obsidian Dimension was powerful enough to send her back in time to the day she first discovered her magic. It’s not perfect reasoning- but it makes sense, given all the magic the realm consisted of. 

Bloom puts her head in her hands and sighs gustily. So she’s either been sent back in time, or she woke up from a very long dream. She puts her palms on the ground and pushes herself up, and looks at her alarm clock. It reads 6:32 am. 

‘I guess I should probably get ready for the day, and get ready to face whatever life is going to throw at me next.’ She pulls off her pajamas and puts on her normal clothes, marvelling at the normalcy of her life so far.

She snaps her fingers, and her favorite pair of jeans comes sailing slowly out of the closet drawers among faint orange sparkles. The small show of magic almost amuses her- it's such a simple pleasure, that makes life so much easier (especially when you're a teenager). 

‘I still have magic, that’s good.’ She waves her hand and the jeans drop onto her shoulder, and she finishes getting dressed quickly. 

Bloom does a quick check of the date, too- it’s the first day of summer vacation. Stella will be picking a fight in the park in a few hours. She has to be ready. She has to be ready for the whole universe, the Trix- everything. All the villains she's faced, all the work she's done. All the schoolwork. She groans. 

She stretches for a bit, breathes and listens to the Dragon’s flame that crackles and burns with the intensity of a million suns in her chest. When her Enchantix was out of control, she would breathe and listen to the fire in her- it soothes her, calms her, focuses her. She sits still for a very long time, listening to her power, the fire burning away underneath her. 

Her magic is awakened now- that means her more alien traits are bound to grow in. Her Dominian heritage gives her sharpened nails, pointed ears, and scales on certain parts of her body- her eyes also become heat sensitive. 

She won’t be able to hide her traits for too long, but hopefully it will be enough time to hopefully get into Alfea College again, with less suspicion this time. 

There’s a knock at the door, and Bloom is startled from her meditation. 

“Yes?” she calls, and Bloom is astounded at how babyish her voice sounds. 

“Oh, you’re awake?” Bloom’s mother says cheerily as she enters the room, the door creaking on the way. “I was going to wake you up and tell you that you were late for school, but..”

“Mooooomm…”

“Heh, I was hoping that you would fall for it, but I guess I can’t pull that now.” 

Bloom rolls her eyes as she gently pushes past her mother. 

“I suppose you’re going to tell me that I can help out in the shop all summer, too?” Bloom quips, treading down the stairs and entering the kitchen to grab an apple and pet Kiko. 

“Why, how did you know?” Her mother says back, leaning on the door frame and crossing her arms in surprise. “I didn’t even tell you yet!”

Bloom is suddenly struck with the realization that she should probably keep quiet about her time travelling, or it might raise questions. Because time travelling isn't normal on earth, and even less normal in Magix. She should keep her mouth shut. 

“Uh, I know one of your other employees just quit, so I assumed you would ask me for now?” Bloom stutters, taking a bite out of her apple before she’s asked more questions from her mother, or her father, who is sitting across the room patiently reading a newspaper article. 

“Hmm, you’re right about that…”

“Why, Bloom paying attention to her surroundings? A miracle!” Bloom’s dad guffaws, flipping his newspaper around to read the next article.

“Oh, Dad, you’re so mean!” Bloom wails jokingly, going over to sit at the opposite chair from her father. 

“Well, not mean enough to withhold presents. Speaking of presents-” Bloom’s dad says, putting down his paper. “We have something for you out front.”

Bloom gets up, follows her parents outside. She knows it’s the bike she had once hated, but now, staring at it as it shines in the gold sun, she tears up. What she had once taken for granted when she was naive, foolish and unaware how hard her parents worked- now she appreciates it. Dying really did open your eyes. 

“It’s perfect.” She chokes. “I love it.” Bloom wipes her eyes and sniffs once loudly, before going over to examine the bike. It’s exactly how she remembers it- flowers in the basket, slightly wobbly tires. 

“Aw, kiddo. I’m glad you like it!” 

“Yes, we thought that maybe you wouldn’t have liked it. We know you’ve been hoping for a scooter, but money’s tight sometimes, and-” Bloom’s mother stops as Bloom interrupts.

“It’s okay.” Bloom says. “This is fine. I love it, you even put flowers in the basket for me!”

Bloom is genuinely happy with her bike now- it’s a lovely way of getting around that lets her appreciate the scenery. 

Her parents hold each other’s hands as they beam at their daughter. Bloom shakes her head, her fair flying up.

“I’m gonna go for a ride. Is that okay?” 

“Of course, but come back in time for dinner!”

Bloom quickly goes back inside to pack a quick lunch- not for herself, but for when Stella inevitably passes out and needs to recover fast. She also grabs Kiko, just for companionship. As she leaves the house again, she hears her parents, murmuring how surprised they are at Bloom's sudden change of character. Just yesterday, Bloom had been nothing more than a normal teenager, bored with her life and ungrateful, and here she was, thankful for for the not as showy gift as she had once hoped for. 

Bloom says nothing.

She puts Kiko and her lunch bag in the basket on her bike, gets on, and rides.The air flowing through her hair is wonderful, and combined with the feeling of riding almost effortlessly on the bike, she feels like she’s flying again, just like she did as a fairy. 

It’s freeing, everything clicks within her, and she fights the urge to transform then and there so she can fly. 

She gets off her bike and starts walking with it instead so she doesn’t do anything really stupid.

Then she passes by Mitzi, and Mitzi happens to open her mouth and ruin it all. 

“Hey, Bloom. Vacationing in Gardenia again?” Mitzi drawls, her pointed nose turning up at the sight of Bloom, simply strolling along the street with her pet bunny. 

“Yes.” Bloom says, and she continues marching. 

“Don’t walk away from me!” Mitzi snaps, standing up and looking angry, like an animal that’s been wronged in some way. 

“Why? I’m not obligated to talk to you. You’re just a stuck up girl who’s so far into her own head that she doesn’t realize she’s unpleasant and quite frankly, a bitch.” 

Bloom can hear Mitzi sputtering behind her as she walks off, and the self satisfaction blossoms inside of her. 

Bloom’s wanted to say that to her face for years now, and it feels so, so good. It might come back to bite her in the ass later, but it’s whatever. The self satisfaction is like a drug, and Bloom feels heady off of it. She has to bring herself back down soon, to ready herself for the fight. She's not as powerful right now. 

When she finally gets to the park, Bloom sets her bike against the same tree, and she holds Kiko close for a minute. 

“This is where it all starts, Kiko.” she murmurs into his fur. Kiko sniffs at her and nestles in her arms, like a comfort. Bloom puts him back in the basket. She knows he’ll wait.

The screams and sounds of fighting start from the forest, and Bloom takes a deep, steadying breath, and walks towards it. 

“Ready or not, here I come.”


	2. the colour of your eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bloom goes to the forest and makes a friend

Bloom arrives at the clearing after a minute or two of walking. Sparks are flying, and Knut, the goblins and Stella are duking it out in the sunshine filled grass. 

Knut’s made a mistake. Stella only gets stronger when she’s near sunlight or a star, and she’s showing it off now too, light radiating off her form and off the ring of Solaria, which is currently in it’s staff mode. 

“Take THAT!” Stella screams, flinging another wave of goblins back towards their master, and they dissolve in golden light and dust. 

Knut roars in anger, but Bloom knows that he’s scared- scared of the Trix’s disapproval, scared of their rage. 

“Time’s up, fairy.” He snarls, looming closer. Bloom steps out from the trees.

“No.” She says, and she pushes what power she has into her voice. “It’s not.” Bloom’s hair rises in the air, and she feels the flames within her lick at her body, and flare outwards- an aura of power shrouds her. 

Stella gasps from where she is, and the goblins take their chance and leap at her, knocking her down and attempting to take the scepter from her. 

“Stop!” Bloom commands, and pushes her hand towards them. A wave of power blasts out, just like the first time she had done this- but more focused, more powerful. The goblins shriek as they are all blasted and burned away, leaving Stella on the ground, unscathed.

Stella recovers though, and quickly stands up and shouts “Solar wind!” and directs the blast towards Knut, who shields himself just in time to not have his face burnt away. He growls louder this time.

“You!” he says, angrier than before. “You’re foiling all my plans. I’ll deal with you myself!” 

Knut grabs Bloom by the arms- or at least tries to. She grabs him first, searing an ugly handprint on his neck from where she’s choking him.

“Leave this place.” Bloom isn’t quite herself anymore, she feels the Dragon’s flames burning in her, higher, higher-   
Knut is blasted away, the Dragon’s Fire propelling him into the air, and there’s a noise like a firework. Knut is gone. Bloom breathes in, breathes out, and lets the flames inside her settle, along with the aura she had been showing. 

“You.. you’re so powerful..” Bloom hears Stella groan, and turns to see her wobbling as she tries to stand, keeping herself upright using only the scepter and what’s left of her strength. Stella must have exhausted herself trying to keep Knut and his minions away from the ring.

Stella collapses in the dirt, detransforming, and her formal Solarian clothes reappear, the traditional crown and false wings returning, along with the long skirt and short top. The orange burns Bloom’s eyes slightly, but that’s okay. 

Bloom runs back to her bike, grabs it and wheels it towards the site where Stella still lies. Kiko sniffs the air pensively.

Grabbing the lunch she had packed, she pulls out an apple and a sandwich, along with a juicebox. Bloom kneels with the food. 

“Wake up, please.” Bloom murmurs, gently putting Stella’s head in her lap. Stella doesn’t wake. The exhaustion is even more apparent looking up close- there are bags under her eyes, and her skin looks sallow, even as the faint glow all Solarians have still persists. 

Bloom gently waves her hand over Stella a few times, utilizing a small recovery spell that Aisha had once taught her when they were still learning how to use their new powers in Enchantix. Bloom suddenly feels a pang of loss for Aisha- she’s not going to meet her for another year or so. 

The faint orange sparks from the spell settle into Stella’s faintly luminous skin, and Stella groans, and wakes up.

“Oh… what happened?” Stella says sleepily. “I was fighting- OH!” Stella sits bolt upright, hitting Bloom in the jaw.

“OW…” Both of them say, and Bloom rubs her jaw and rolls her tongue around in her mouth, just to make sure she didn’t bite it too hard. 

“Goodness, I’m so sorry!” Stella babbles, still reeling from the knock on her head. “That was an accident, I just get so disoriented when I wake up.” Kiko shifts in the bike basket, and Bloom is worried he might jump out just to check on her. Kiko stays put, though. 

“It’s okay,” Bloom says in what she hopes is a soothing voice. “You just got attacked by a bunch of monsters, that has to be confusing and scary.”

“Well, not if you’re this perfect- I was merely stunned!” 

“Mmhm, stunned to the point of fainting?” 

“Maybe so.”

Bloom turns away from Stella for a moment and hands her the food and drink.

“You look exhausted.” Bloom explains. “You need something to at least help you.”

“Thank you.” Stella takes a bite of the sandwich, and makes a face. She delicately puts it back in the bag before turning to the apple instead. 

Bloom realizes that it would be weird to call Stella by her name when technically, in this timeline they haven’t introduced themselves formally.

“What’s your name, then? You’re a pretty weird sight to see in these parts of town- A fairy, fighting some meaty beast in the forest?”

Stella scoffs. “I’m not just any fairy, dear- I’m Princess Stella of Solaria. And besides, you’re pretty weird yourself- a normal looking Earth citizen with fairy magic?”

Bloom leans back and puts her weight on one arm from where she’s sitting. “Hate to break it to you, but I have no idea where Solaria is.” A lie, but Bloom knows Stella likes talking, and especially about herself and where she’s from. 

“Really now- no idea? Preposterous. Solaria was the first realm made by the Dragon’s Flame! It’s famous!” Stella pauses to take another bite from the apple. “Well, then again, I suppose you’re still from Earth- even if you’re obviously a fairy, and a powerful one at that.”

Bloom bites her lip. She knows she’s a fairy this time around, which is a huge boon. But she probably shouldn’t reveal her heritage just yet. 

Stella tries taking a bite from the bottom of her apple, and Bloom stops her before she can. 

“You may be a Princess and all, but it’s kind of obvious that you’ve never eaten Earth food before.” Stella hmphs and pouts at this, which is kind of cute and Bloom definitely doesn’t feel a little flutter in her chest. Nope.

“Anyway,” Bloom says, steering the conversation towards more serious things. “You were just attacked, and you obviously need help. Do you want to come back to my house to recover and get away from the scene of the crime?”

Stella mulls it over for about 2 seconds before nodding. 

“Oh,” Bloom adds. “Is there any way you can change your clothes? They’ll stick out like a sore thumb on Earth.” 

Stella sighs. “But I love this dress so much- fine, though.” She waves her hands around her, and gold sparkles and light wrap around her, and her outfit changes into the one she had worn most of the two years that she and Bloom had spent together before Bloom was sent back.

Bloom totally doesn’t feel a pang of some emotion. 

The fairy across from Bloom tries to stand, but she’s still shaky- food wasn’t enough to help her entirely, apparently. 

The redhead stands too, and gently helps Stella steady herself by putting her hands on the girl’s waist.

“Do you need help walking?” Bloom asks.

“No.” Stella says stubbornly.

“Alright then!” Bloom giggles , and she removes her hands and moves away. Stella stumbles and nearly falls. 

“Okay, maybe I need a little help walking.” 

Bloom laughs and gets Stella to put her hands on the bike while Bloom walks alongside the bike and they begin walking home. 

They chat on the way, and Stella continues to talk about her home kingdom and city, along with general Magix culture, and she tries to ask about Bloom’s powers. Bloom tries to casually deflect the invasive nature of them, but Stella doesn’t quite take the hint. Regardless, Bloom feels the friendship between them rekindling (and even in this timeline, she hopes that it could become something more). 

When they get back to Bloom’s home (thankfully there were no encounters with Mitzi on the way), Bloom helps Stella up the stairs to the door and she pushes it open.

“Mom, Dad, please help me. I have an injured girl, she needs help.” Bloom calls through the house, and luckily both of them are home.

“Oh no, what happened?” Vanessa says as she takes Stella from Bloom, who wilts immediately, and Vanessa takes her to the couch to lie her down. 

“You won’t believe me.” Bloom says mildly. She sets down Kiko in his rabbit hutch, who goes to sip on some water.

“Try us. Did she crash into you on your bike, or did she have a nasty fall?” Bloom’s father says, grabbing a box of bandaids from a cabinet. 

“Well, she was attacked by a monster in the park.” Bloom says, in an even more flat tone. 

Bloom’s father shakes his head. “I did say ‘Try me,’ but I really don’t believe you.”

Stella pipes up from where she’s sitting on the couch. “It’s the truth, mister. They wanted my ring.” She points to the glimmering ring on her finger, and the orange gemstone catches the light. 

“Were they just regular thugs? There’s been a lot of crime in the area recently…”

The sun fairy shakes her head. “No. They were monsters. I’m a fairy, so I was able to fight them off- with the help of your daughter of course.” Stella gestures towards Bloom. “She was amazing- she blasted all of them away with fire, and sent the main beast away!” 

Vanessa and Mike glance at each other. 

“Sweetheart, is this girl telling the truth?” Bloom’s mother asks. Bloom nods.

“She has powers, and so do I. I know neither of you believe me- Dad, put down the phone.” Bloom says, not even looking behind her to confirm that her Dad picked up the phone.

“But we should call the police, kiddo. This girl is obviously lost.” 

“Don’t.” Bloom says, and she can feel her power seeping into her voice again. Her father is obviously cowed, and he puts the phone back down. 

“Since your parents obviously don’t believe us,” Stella chimes. “Can I give a demonstration?” She’s trying to sit up, and she has enough energy to do so, thankfully.

Bloom nods, and Stella waves her hands, and a bouquet of flowers appears in a shower of gold light and sparkles, hovering in the air, held aloft by Stella’s magic alone.

“Holy- Good god, are those real?” Mike reaches over to grab them, and he turns them over in his hands.

“Yep! Well, only for now, my magic isn’t strong enough to do a full conjuration.”

“Well.. I guess I have to believe you now. I mean,” Mike says, obviously dumbfounded still as Vanessa picks up the flowers to examine for herself. “It’s hard, and it’s so weird, and I haven’t seen anything like it for years..”

“Years? That implies you’ve seen it once,” Stella hums, leaning back against the couch, still tired. 

“Well…” Mike hesitates. Bloom knows what he wants to say.  
“This is about the day you found me in the fire, isn’t it?” 

Mike and Vanessa both look astonished. 

“Yes- but we’ve never told you!”

“Well, I remembered.” Bloom says shortly, not wanting to talk about her sister’s ultimate sacrifice.

The room is silent for a moment. Bloom goes over to check on Stella. Stella is still pale and slightly shaky, but that’s regular symptoms of magical exhaustion. Bloom checks her eyes too, just to make sure she’s not going magic blind. 

She forgot how beautiful Stella’s golden eyes were. And her hair, and her fair skin, and her lips. Bloom could get lost thinking about all those things. 

All of a sudden, Bloom feels something foreboding on the back of her neck, and she feels the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The troll! The one she had to face on the first day, she forgot all about it! 

Bloom stands up immediately and glances at the door. There’s thumping noises, and plates and dishes are rattling. 

“Something’s coming. Mom, dad, get out of here, now. You’re going to get hurt.” Bloom says commandingly. “There’s another monster coming.”

Bloom’s parents look at each other, wide eyed and fearful, before they look at Bloom. 

“Sweetie, are you sure you’ll be able to protect yours-”

“Yes. Now GO!” Bloom roars as there’s a giant CRASH from the door, and the troll and Knut walk in together, both looming, shadows leaning across the floor.

Vanessa screams, and she and Bloom’s dad run out, saving themselves from the debris that still threatens to come down. 

“Stella! Call the specialists, now.” Stella looks at Bloom, almost angry.

“I can fight too!” She argues.

“No, you can’t! You’re still exhausted!” Bloom says right back, dodging an angry fist. 

Bloom knows she needs to transform, she can’t fight with just her fists and civillian magic alone.

“MAGIC WINX!” Bloom screams, and the magic flows out of her, envelops her, and she can feel her wings appearing and her clothes, along with the crown so customary to her transformation.

She blinks, and she flutters into the air, and narrows her eyes at the enemies who have barged into her home. 

“Dragon’s flame!” She cries, and a dragon made of fire envelops Knut and the troll.

“You again?” Knut stomps towards her. “Get her, troll!” 

The troll is still reeling from the fire, and there are angry burns and welts appearing across its skin already. It bellows in agony. 

Bloom turns towards Stella, who is stuck in place, jaw agape.

“Stella!”

“Oh, right!” Stella gets up as fast as she can, and she darts out of the room as well, cell phone in hand.

Bloom turns back to the monsters. She lets the power shroud her again.

“Knut.” She says calmly, setting back down on the floor, fire burning on her hands. “Back so soon, even after your failure? The Trix might have your head for this if you fail again.”

Knut looks shocked, his yellow eyes widening. 

“I know you’re scared, and I’m so sorry for making your job harder.” Bloom says placatingly. “I can help you get away from them. I promise.”

Knut looks down and looks at his open palms. He’s thinking about it, and Bloom can see the gears turning in his head. 

“I….” He’s interrupted by the blue troll swinging it’s fists at Bloom, who only narrowly dodges, nearly clipping her wings in the process. 

“Rude!” She cries. She points her finger at it and sends orange sparks towards him, but they’re much more bright and dangerous looking. They hit it in the eyes, and the troll roars in agony once again. 

Bloom flies toward the troll and grabs it’s arms and concentrates. Ropes made of fire surround it, and bind it in place.

She feels the magical exhaustion settling into her core. ‘Right.’ She thinks. ‘My body is so unused to this flow of magic, I have to take it easy.’

The troll can’t break free, and now Bloom is able to talk to Knut freely. She hovers in the air in front of him. 

“Do you want to accept my help, Knut?” 

Knut stands still, next to the troll who is still writing in its bonds. 

“.. Anything to get away from them.” He sobs, and he puts his head in his hands.

Stella runs back in. “Bloom, the specialists are a minute away, and- oh.” She stops in her tracks when she sees that the situation has been handled. 

“Thank you, Stella.” 

Bloom sets herself back down on the ground. She keeps her transformation up, though, because the fire ropes may vanish if she turns back.

“God, that was exhausting.” Bloom laughs. “Knut, can you help me take this guy outside?”

Knut nods shyly, now that he’s accepted the help of this fairy, who he had tried to kill. 

Knut takes the troll out back, where Bloom’s parents are.

“Good heavens,” Vanessa gasps. “How on earth did you beat that thing?” 

“Magic.” Bloom says with a laugh. 

The specialists appear in a flash of blue light.

“Where’s the threat?” Riven is glancing around, looking for a fight, but there is none. Only a handful of people, two fairies, a troll, and an ogre. 

“Looks like it’s already handled, Riv.” Brandon laughs, sweeping his brown hair out of his eyes. Bloom knows that he and Sky will be pulling the same bullshit this time around. She’ll keep quiet about it, if only to make them comfortable and to keep their cover.

“Aw man, our first mission and it’s already handled?” Riven pouts, putting his sword and weapons away, light blades vanishing into their hilts.

“Yes, by me. There’s only one pickup.” Bloom immediately takes charge. “This troll in the ropes.” 

Timmy comes up to take a glance at it. “Looks secure, but we’ll have to put this guy in standard cuffs- Brandon, if you will?”

Sky comes up with the cuffs and helps Timmy secure their new cargo. Bloom detransforms once they’re done. She stumbles a little before regaining her footing.

“Thank you for your help, boys.” Bloom says. “Just don’t tell your superiors that I took it down- I want you to get good grades, after all.” 

The specialists have a laugh. 

“What’s your name, then? I haven’t seen you at Alfea yet.” Sky asks, walking closer. Bloom missed his blue eyes and charming smile, and they’re only more handsome in the starlight.

“I’m Bloom, and the only reason you haven’t seen me yet is because I’ll be going soon. It’ll be my first year.” Bloom tries to not let bitterness seep into her voice at having to redo her first few years of fairy school. 

“Really? With that transformation I thought you could have been a high level fairy already.” 

“Such a flatterer! But no, I’m merely a talented first timer.”

Sky laughs, and he sweeps his hair out of his eyes. Bloom looks past him to see Stella hitting it off with Brandon. Stella is obviously swooning. Bloom feels a surge of quiet jealousy. 

“What’s your name then, hmm?” Bloom asks, shifting her weight onto one hip and crossing her arms. 

“Brandon.” 

“Hmm, nice name for a nice guy.” Bloom teases. Sky flushes gently, but Bloom can’t tell if it’s from the praise of because he’s feeling guilt over the false identity. 

“Brandon, hate to interrupt, but we have to get going!” Riven calls, and Sky looks away. 

“Um, sorry Bloom, I really have to go now..”

“Hey, it’s alright. Maybe we’ll see each other around?” 

Sky smiles gently. It’s a nice smile, with the dimples emphasizing the boyish charm he has. 

“Yeah. Just don’t get attacked by another troll, you hear?” 

Bloom giggles. “I’ll try not to.” 

The specialists ready all their gear and wave goodbye to them all. Bloom and Stella both wave back. Bloom’s parents and Knut both say nothing. 

Bloom goes back inside and helps her shell shocked parents up the stairs. She gets to work, cleaning up parts of the rubble near the door. She’s lucky that nothing else was really destroyed. 

She helps Knut get settled in, and lets him sleep in the living room, with a few pillows for his head (he refused the blanket, as he was already very warm). 

Once her parents have recovered and Bloom checks over Kiko, she takes Stella up to her room.

Stella is amazed at how nice the room is (even for a commoner like herself). Bloom rolls her eyes and sits on the floor. 

“Stella. Can you take me to Alfea?”

The fairy across from Bloom looks shocked. “You mean you haven’t been?”

“No.” A lie. She just hasn’t been this time around. “I know I need to go though, I need to hone my powers. More monsters might be after me.”

Stella sighs. “Yes, I can take you, but I’m still absolutely exhausted- I need to sleep first, and recover.”

Bloom nods. She lets Stella sleep on her bed, and Stella promptly falls asleep, still exhausted. 

Bloom changes into her pajamas, and sets up a small bed of blankets and pillows next to her bed. 

She mulls over the day’s events in her head. Trolls, specialists, and her powers- stronger than they were when she first used her magic Winx.

Now that she thinks about it, her transformation was a bit different. It was a more royal blue, with a sheer fabric over the exposed stomach- and there were dragon scales that made the transition between royal blue fabric and sheer tulle. Her crown also felt a bit heavier this time around, but she hadn’t looked at herself in the mirror while she was transformed. 

She can think about that later. Right now, she has to sleep.

Bloom drifts off into sleep, and the only things she dreams about is the Kingdom of Domino being destroyed, and the Obsidian Dimension shattering beneath her feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay gonna be honest im just on a writing spree right now, but im pretty sure i won't be able to keep this schedule up. for now though just enjoy what im spewing out!!!


	3. torn between two worlds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bloom has a few conversations, and she takes the leap between earth and the beyond

When Bloom walks into the kitchen the next morning, she’s greeted with the sight of Knut sitting gingerly at the kitchen table, a large mug of tea on the table in front of him. He does a small wave towards Bloom. Bloom waves back. 

Vanessa and Mike are cleaning up residual debris still, brooms and mops handy. Mike drops a piece of wall on his foot and makes a pained noise.

“Dad, you know I can just fix this place up with magic, right?”

“I prefer doing it this way. It gives me time to think.”

Bloom shrugs, and goes to sit with Knut at the kitchen table. 

“You okay? Did you sleep well last night?” Bloom asks, grabbing the newspaper on the table and turns the page to get to the comics. Garfield’s smarmy face stares up at her. 

“I mean…” Knut flounders, twiddling his large thumbs. “I suppose. But the thoughts of my once-mistresses finding me and hurting me.. It kept me up all night.” 

Bloom can understand that. Being hunted by the Trix for a power she didn’t want to possess was frightening, and if she were given the chance she would have probably gone to therapy.

“Well, I can protect you from them.” Bloom puts a warm hand on Knut’s, and he gives a crooked smile.

Stella walks down the stairs, yawning and stretching her arms. Bloom can see the sharper than human canines as she opens her mouth. She has a new pleasant civilian outfit.

“Mm, hey.” Stella cracks her back as she moves towards the table. “We going to Alfea today? Today’s the first day of classes, and while you could miss them you probably shouldn’t.”

Bloom laughs. It’s an easy sound for her to make, usually, but her voice cracks a   
little. Probably her Dominian traits, knowing how dragon-like her race is.

Knut puts in his two cents. “Should I come with you to Alfea? Even the Trix couldn’t harm me there…”

Stella glances at him. “Hm, I suppose so, but we have to convince Griselda, and she’s one tough nut to crack.” 

“Oh really now?” Bloom grins, giving Stella another chance to launch into a rant about Griselda and how much Stella dislikes her. 

After a few minutes of Stella moaning about how she got kicked out of Alfea and how mad Griselda was, Bloom stood up.

“I should probably pack and tell my parents. Stella, could you keep Knut company for now?” 

Stella looks wary of the large troll, but she relents, and sits down at the chair Bloom had just vacated. Knut looks at her up and down and asks her for a proper introduction, and they begin to go through a slightly stilted but genuine conversation. Even though Stella can be stuck up sometimes, she’s kind and loving to everyone deep down. 

Bloom walks into the living room, where her parents try to act like they weren’t listening to her conversation with Knut and Stella. 

Mike breaks first. “So you really want to leave us and go to… some other place? Bloom, please think about this.”

“I have, and I know it’s the best choice for me. What if more creatures and enemies come for me? What if they kill me?” 

“Sweetheart, please give this some reconsideration- you’ve known Stella for a day- less than that, and you’re already willing to throw your life away here to go to some ‘Alfea’?” 

Bloom sits on the couch. “Yes. I am.”

Bloom’s parents deflate. Bloom has never been this serious about anything, let alone a school.

“...Fine.” Mike says. “But you have to call and tell us you’re okay as often as you can. And you have to come back on school breaks.”

The redheaded princess quirks a smile. She knows that she’ll have to discuss this with them a bit more after she packs, but for now, she has their seal of approval.

“Thank you both, so much!” She leaps from the couch and grabs both her parents in a hug, and they hug her back.

Bloom runs up to her room and quickly uses a bit of handy magic to send all her clothes and school supplies into a bag, but it proves to be a bit too small.

She shrugs and casts a small spell that expands it on the inside. It’s useful, and one that Stella taught her (She only knew it because she had too many clothes to fit in a normal sized bag). 

All the things she needs are packed. She makes a mental checklist on things that she needs to buy for school, like books and pixie dust and herbs for potions.

Stella barges in. Bloom turns her head, lifting an eyebrow. 

“Bloom, are you ready to go? I’ve been dying to take you, dear- I’d love to show you around! After all, Alfea is the finest college for fairies!” 

“Yeah, just give me a minute. I have to say goodbye to my parents, and we have to bring Knut.”

Suitcase in her arms, Bloom trots down the stairs. She decides not to bring Kiko this time around- if he were to come to harm she would never forgive herself. And besides, the magic affected him a bit bizzarely. 

Bloom’s parents are at the bottom of the stairs. They look nervous, but that’s expected. When your daughter is suddenly being whisked away into a magical place full of wonders and worries, you’re bound to be anxious. 

“Are you absolutely sure you’re going to be safe, both of you?” Vanessa’s eyes are teary, and Mike is blowing his nose into a tissue. 

“I can defend myself, promise.”

“Oh, Bloom…”

Stella clicks her tongue. “All of you are being sappy, and I get it, but today is the day we have to check in to Alfea College- no late drop ins!”

Bloom sighs good-naturedly. “Don’t forget to bring Knut.”

Knut perks up and lumbers into the room. He is wringing his hands, also nervous.

“Will I be safe in fairy territory?” He asks. “After all, I’m a monster, and fairies aren’t the kindest to us…” 

“I’ll kick their ass if they even try. If I can kick a fully grown troll’s butt, no one will dare mess with me.” Bloom’s confidence makes itself known in a smirk, and Knut nods and puts a hand over the fading burn mark on his neck from when Bloom hurt him. Bloom mentally winces, and takes a note not to hurt people like that in the near future.

Bloom’s mom makes a face at the crude language, but says nothing. Bloom lifts her suitcase higher in her arms.

“Stella, if you will?”

Stella nods and throws her Alfea postcard on the ground- it melts into a portal, and Mike is in awe at the display.

“After you, dearies.” Stella chirps, and she bows with all the grace of a princess.

Bloom hops in. There’s the familiar wash of magic over her skin as she passes through the dimension-compressing portal, and she drops onto the lush blue-green grass.

As she gets up, she looks towards Alfea, and tears blossom in Bloom’s eyes. It’s just as beautiful as the first time she saw it.

The pink bricks shine in the sun, and she can see the gates, shaped like wings- it’s gorgeous.

Stella pops through the portal, and Bloom’s parents tumble in after her. Mike falls much less gracefully than his wife, but he recovers and stands, dusting himself off. Knut comes through with much more practiced grace, probably because he’s been through several portals like this while looking for Solaria’s ring. 

“Oh my word,” Vanessa gasps. “This is your new school?”

Stella smirks behind Bloom. With her empathy magic, Bloom can tell Stella feels pride over showing people new things. It makes sense. Bloom also feels Knut’s emotions- scared, pensive, but relieved to be away from the Trix.

“Yep!” Bloom says. “And I know I’ll have a lot of fun.”

Bloom turns and hugs her parents tightly, and her parents return it.

Vanessa and Mike are crying now. Bloom feels bad, knowing she’s put her parents through the wringer lately. Their home damaged, their daughter being taken away from them, and an earth shattering revelation. 

“Oh sweetie… please make sure you call us.. And don’t do anything foolish, and do well in your studies, and..” 

“Mom, I’ll be fine, I promise. I really do. And I’ll call you as soon as I can, and if I can…”

Mike wipes his eyes. “Do your best, kiddo.”

Bloom breaks away. “You should probably go home now, both of you. I love you.”

“We love you too, dear.” And Bloom’s parents go through the portal again, and the portal closes.

Bloom takes a deep breath. Stella links an arm through Bloom’s (She’s never usually this touchy, Bloom thinks. What’s up with her?), and she pulls her towards the school. Knut jolts, and follows behind them both. 

Her feet start moving, and the new beginning of Bloom’s second life starts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is only 3 pages long but i wanted to post it because im a slut for kudoses and comments and so far so good


	4. the golden years return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bloom meets her old friends and gets into alfea, and she gets ready for a conversation

The gates are looming closer when Bloom suddenly has a thought.

“Wait, Knut. You can’t go in right away, right? Because people would prooobably freak out.”

Knut sighs in disappointment. “I knew it wouldn’t be this easy…”

“Hey now,” Bloom chimes, putting a warm, burning hand on Knut’s large arm. “We can still work something out. I know people are prejudiced sometimes, but we’ll try and make a way in.” 

Stella clicks her tongue. “Yeah, fairies are like that. And because of that, you might need to stay out here until we manage to get you in.”

Knut nods, and wrings his large hands. “How long do you think that will take?” 

“Anywhere from…. Five minutes to three hours.” 

Biting his lip, Knut nods. “I can wait out here, I’ve had lots of practice waiting for instructions.”

Bloom feels her heart pang, but nods in response. “Do you need anything to keep you busy? A blanket or some puzzles or something?”

“Or some sunglasses? It is getting pretty bright,” Stella says, waving her hands and letting some fashionable pink and purple sunglasses appear. Knut oohs and aahs, but then he thinks, while Stella conjures up a nice picnic blanket for him. 

“A puzzle would be nice. And maybe some snacks.” 

Bloom laughs and concentrates, then with a small puff of magic a rubix cube shows up. Bloom scrambles it well, then hands it to a confused but interested Knut.

“Goal is to have all the sides to be matching colours.” Bloom says.

Knut’s eyes light up immediately at the cube, and he sets to work. Bloom also creates a few apples and a loaf of bread. It’s about all she can make, food magic was never her specialty. Because of that, its relatively taxing on her magic. Bloom would probably be horrible at surviving in the wild.

Stella links arms with Bloom again. “Off we go to Alfea, then?” Her smile is blinding, eyes crinkling gently.

Bloom smiles and she fights the blush threatening to appear on her face. What is wrong with her?

The forest is beautiful as she remembers, as they walk and talk and try not to step on the magical flowers. Knut waves goodbye, a little sadly. 

Bloom looks up to the sky as Stella gently tugs her along. The sky is purplish, which is a residual magical effect- the witches’ magic is more prominent with weather, so that’s the main cause. Of course, the ambient magic in the entire world adds to that effect, too. It’s still interesting though. Bloom has always loved magic theories, their causes and effects, and how it interacts with life on any world. It’s so.. varied, and amazing. 

“..oom. Bloom! Hey, wake up! We’re almost there!”

“Huh? Oh, sorry about that.” Bloom chuckles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Alfea is looming ever closer.

“Soooo, about how I’m getting in…” Bloom remembers last time, how she faked being a princess from another realm. She snorts internally.

“Well, you’re in luck, my friend-” Stella pulls out an envelope. “I have a note here from Princess Varanda of Callisto, explaining why she had to withdraw from Alfea at the last minute- but if I never give it to the Headmistress- well, let’s just say they never have to know.”

Bloom grabs Stella’s hand. “This is TOTALLY not right, but I trust you, even if we only met like, a few hours ago.” Stella flushes and tugs her hand away.

“W-well, thank you for your words of confidence! We should get inside, though, do you have your stuff? Oh, and can you burn this for me?” Stella waves the letter at Bloom. Bloom laughs and torches it with her fire, and the ashes litter the turquoise green grass at their feet. Bloom grabs Stella’s hand again and laughs, and tugs her towards the grand pearlescent gates of Alfea. Stella is laughing too, and Bloom feels her cheeks hurt from all the grinning she’s doing.

Walking inside for the first time is as amazing as she remembers it- the whole campus is resplendent, full of fledgling fairies who haven’t even reached Charmix yet, and the pink glow of the walls makes Bloom’s heart feel lighter. 

Stella leads her up to Griselda, who is angrily confronting a poor fairy with blue hair and pointed nails. Techna is there, too, ready to sign in, and Bloom’s heart aches, because god fucking damn she’s missed her friends for the day and a half that she’s been back in this time.

“That’s Griselda,” Stella whispers, like Griselda isn’t literally right there. “She’s a grouch, but she’s in charge of checking students coming through here. There’s been a lot of witches trying to get in to cause trouble, lately.” Bloom nods.

They approach Griselda, who glares them down with utter contempt in her eyes as her glasses glint in the sunlight.

“Names and planet, please.” She snips. “Not you, Stella of Solaria. You’re lucky you’re even back at Alfea this year.”

“Princess Varanda of Callisto.” Bloom says cordially. She puts her bag down and does a small curtsy, as a show of respect. Griselda seems vaguely surprised. Stella is probably shocked but refuses to show it. How is Bloom such a good actor?

“Hmm, yes, that seems to check out.” Griselda mutters, tapping her pen against her clipboard. “Welcome to Alfea, then. Your room is on the second floor, room #1210.”

“Thank you, Miss…?”

“Miss Griselda, and nothing else. Now run along, the Headmistress will be making a speech in the entrance soon.”

Bloom and Stella do, indeed, run along. The entrance to the main school is just as pretty as she remembers, sweeping staircases (two of them), flowers and paintings of past leaders and influential alumni to come out of the school. Faragonda is there, her eyes gleaming pink in the sunlight, not a hair out of place as she stands, prim and proper. There are other teachers too, Palladium, Wizgiz, and others, standing near her as a silent show of teacherly will.

“Good morning, students of Alfea!” She calls, cutting all the fairies’ chatter off. “Welcome to your very first day as a proper fairy in training, at one of the best fairy schools in the whole of Magix!”

Bloom snorts quietly. It’s the only fairy school in Magix.

“Mind you, it’s the only one.” Faragonda grins, corners of her lips turning up. Bloom is suddenly aware that Faragonda can probably read minds. Oops.

Faragonda continues on. “Now, I know very well that you students are incredibly eager to explore your new school, and new living arrangements, so I won’t keep you long.”

There are a few titters of laughter and good natured sighs.

“Classes start tomorrow at 8:30 sharp,” Faragonda says. “You can go explore the school as you wish, but please don’t cause too much trouble.”

More laughter ensues. Bloom looks around, and she’s suddenly struck by how alien everyone looks- sharp teeth, eyes with multi colored sclera, girls with plants or mushrooms growing on them, different skin tones of every hue, and hair that might not be considered hair. It’s amazing. 

Faragonda’s speech ends and she shoos the excited girls off so they can explore the campus and their dorm rooms.

“Bloom, let’s get to our dorm!” Stella chirps. “We have to meet our friends and get settled, then we have to find a way to get you-know-who in.”

Bloom nods. Her hand finds Stella’s again and they go up the stairs. Bloom leads them both up the stairs and tugs them towards their room- the same one as last timeline. Her heart pangs.

When they get there and unlock the door, Bloom’s breath is taken away. It’s the same as she remembers, and just as beautiful. She’s so sentimental lately, but somehow she can’t truly bring herself to care.

Stella points towards Bloom and Flora’s room, which has a sign that says ‘Varanda and Flora.’ Bloom snorts.  
“Well, I have my own room to get settled into,” Stella says, tossing her silky gold hair behind her. “It’s a single, you know.”

“Go on then, go get all your prissy princess things settled.” Stella sticks her tongue out at Bloom and enters a room with her name on it. Bloom sighs, happily, and enters her and Flora’s room.

She blinks. It’s full of plants. How could she have forgotten? 

There’s ivy and flowers and little shrubs and trees everywhere, and Flora is in the middle of it all, feeding a carnivorous plant little morsels of meat. Her kind eyes and green-tinted cheeks are almost hidden by her bangs and long hair, and Bloom feels her heart pang a bit just like it did with Stella a few times earlier. She sets her stuff down on her bed.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.” Flora turns to Bloom, and Bloom notices her outfit is a little different. Pink, ruffly top that hangs off her shoulders, instead of her customary green crop top, and a green skirt with embroidered flowers. She looks great.

“No worries,” Bloom says easily. “I’m Varanda of Callisto. Nice to meet you!” 

Flora holds out her hand and Bloom shakes. Flora’s smile isn’t dazzling, but it’s more a gentle glitter that brings out her green tinted sclera and irises. Bloom feels that pang again, and she tries not to look away.

“Sorry about all the plants,” Flora says. “I’m from Lynphea,” She says, if that explains everything. Luckily for Bloom, she has knowledge from a past timeline to help her this time around.

“Oh! Lynphea is so lovely- sorry if this is nosy, but what Lynphea ethnicity are you? I just find it interesting!” Bloom is eager- she never really learned enough about other planets and their ethnicities and all their inhabitants’ quirks last time. Bloom also knows that Flora likes talking about her home- even if Lynphea is large, it’s living in the shadow of other planets nearby- so when any Lynphean is given the chance to talk about their home, they jump at it.

“It’s not nosy, don’t worry. I’m Silva- my parents were too, but they were going to plant my seed in a tropical area, so I could have been a Mare Lynphean.” She shrugs with a small grin and tosses one more meat morsel to her plant.

“Oh, really? I can’t see you being tropical, you’re far too meadow and foresty to me. And besides, you look like a flower kind of gal.” Bloom is very quickly getting flustered. This is awkward for her. Flora doesn’t seem to mind though, and Bloom is thankful for her endless patience.

“Funny you mention it- I’m the fairy of nature, and by extension, flowers.” 

A pretty, alien flower that Bloom recognizes as a Moondrop sprouts in Flora’s hands. (Bloom faintly remembers that Moondrops are native to Solaria, but Lynpheans use them for pale dyes in clothing.)

“Heh, that explains all the beautiful plants you have growing here. I can’t recognize some of them, though. Could you show me sometime?”

Flora’s cheeks flush a deeper green and her eyes gleam. “I would love to.”

They’re interrupted by the door to the dorm opening again. Techna stands there, bag in hand. Her eyes quickly scan the room and land on Bloom and Flora.

“Are you my roommates?” She inquires, head tilting to the side ever so slightly. Her hands are cold and her motions are calculating. Bloom knows it’s her upbringing though. And also part of her programming- Zenith is known for biomagic implants in the brain and body. Usually those result in less feelings, but then again, Zenith discourages humanoid emotions as a whole anyways.

“We are. I’m Varanda.” 

“And I’m Flora. What’s your name, then?”

Techna looks to where her room is. “My name is Techna, I’m from Zenith. Assuming from your green tinted cheeks and eyes, I’m going to guess you’re from Lynphea?”

Flora nods, smile back on her cheeks. 

Techna glances at Bloom, calculating look on her face. “I can’t exactly pinpoint where you’re from. Apologies.”

“No worries, Techna!” Bloom giggles, hand over her mouth. “I’m the princess of Callisto.”

“Oh, should I have bowed when I walked in?” There’s a new voice at the door. Musa is standing there, duffel bag in her hands as she struts inside, all calm, collected swagger in her chunky sneakers. "I'm Musa, from Melody. Dumb name, huh?"

“It’s cool, I’m just here to be a student, you know? And yeah, seems stupid to name your kid Musa when you're from Melody.” 

Musa barks out a laugh and looks Bloom up and down. "You definitely don't look like the princess type, you're not willowy enough to be all like those damsels."

"Oh, are you saying I couldn't be royal?"

"No, no, of couuuurse not."

"I can hear that sarcasm, shut up!" Musa laughs as Bloom pouts fakely, and Techna attempts a casual grin. 

All the girls are standing there now, making idle chatter, when Stella waltzes in. She’s grinning, but she makes a hand motion towards the door. Bloom remembers that she has to bring Knut in.

“Sorry girls, I have to go- you should all get settled in, I have to do something. Maybe we can go out for pizza or something later?” Bloom says.

“Ooh, sounds like fun.” Musa says, eyes crinkling as she bares her sharp teeth in a grin. “Catch ya later, then.”

Bloom waves, and leaves the room immediately, darting out and making a beeline towards the Headmistress’ office. She can feel Griselda’s eyes on her. She runs faster, darting through a few secretive staircases, and she can see other students glancing at her as she darts past. 

She knocks respectfully as she gets there. There’s a beat of silence, then-

“Come in!”

Bloom takes a breath. She turns the elegant handle and walks in, and steels herself for the conversation.

She hopes it’s worth telling Faragonda everything about her time travel just to get Knut into the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL HEADCANONS ABOUT THE WINX AND THEIR ETHNICITY TYPES ARE MOSTLY FROM @emsartwork ON TUMBLR. they do amazing worldbuilding for winx club and i enjoy all their headcanons and art immensely. anyway thanks for all ur guys' support it means a lot ily all


	5. all things sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bloom talks to the headmistress and forgives a friend (and she feels more weird emotional pangs towards her friends)

Faragonda is sitting at her desk, tips of her fingers touching as she smiles at Bloom. Her eyes are slightly narrowed, though, and Bloom remembers that this is one of the members of the Company of Light she’s about to have a chat with. One of the most powerful fae to still walk the universe’s strings. 

“Why, I didn’t think I would be seeing any students in this office until next week!” Faragonda tilts back in her chair. “Take a seat then, dearie.” 

“Thank you.”

“Now, what did you come in here for? Surely you don’t have complaints already?” 

Bloom studies the Headmistress’ face. She’s got a look in her eye that says she knows who Bloom is and who she really is, deep down, and Bloom can’t lie to her. Besides, that would only hinder her goal.

“My name isn’t Varanda, Headmistress Faragonda.” Bloom says dryly in a tone that books no interruptions. “My real name is Bloom, and I was raised on earth, but you know I’m from Sparx, don’t you.”

Faragonda’s eyes widen then narrow to slits. “Sparx is a dead planet.” She says in a measured tone. “And I should punish or expel you for taking on the name of another student.”

Bloom sighs and leans forward. 

“Headmistress Faragonda, I was sent back in time.” Faragonda looks shocked to her core but her look moves to intense curiosity and intrigue. She doesn’t talk again, though. 

“You sealed the Ancestral Witches away, remember them?”

“I do.”

“I defeated them, in the Obsidian Dimension. Unfortunately, I think the magical backlash sent me back by two years. I am now stuck in a body that is unused to the flow of my Enchantix magic, and I have to warn you that there will be catastrophic events of a scale unknown that will be coming this way soon.”

Faragonda says nothing for a moment. Then she sighs.

“How do I know for certain that you aren’t lying?”

Bloom raises an eyebrow. “Ma’am, I’m fairly certain that you could rip my mind to shreds and get all the information you needed out of me.”

“Back in the Company of Light, there were many people who were talented at impersonation, my dear. You don’t know how many times traitors slipped through my fingers because I only scanned their minds.”

“Fair enough.”

Faragonda leans forward and threads her fingers together, resting her head on them. “Now, prove to me that you are who you say you are.”

‘Deep breaths, Bloom.’ Bloom thinks to herself. She takes a breath like she said she would.

“My name is Bloom Peterson, daughter of King Oritel and Queen Marion. I was sent to Earth in a last ditch attempt to save me. My sister Daphne was turned into a spirit in the process. Sparx is dead because of the Ancestral’s attack. Daphne’s soul is in the lake nearby the school. I have the Dragon Flame as my main source of power. The codex is separated in four pieces, and 3 pieces are at the 3 schools of Magix. Lord Darkar will be making a return. Three witches from the nearby school are currently hunting for the Dragon Flame in an attempt to usurp Magix and become the new ancestrals.”

Bloom takes another deep breath after finishing. Faragonda is staring at her with naked fear, apprehension, interest, and a healthy dose of acceptance. Faragonda stands up from her desk and moves to look out over the campus.

“I see. That was more than enough to prove your identity- the true downfall of Domino is known to a scarce few across the magic universe.”

Bloom stands and moves next to her. The campus is splendid, and several girls of all shapes, species and sizes are wandering and chatting. Many are also showing off their magic, and there’s a rainbow over the lake.

“Bloom- I’m sorry.” Faragonda murmurs as her eyes gloss over. She’s clearly stuck in the past. 

“What for?”

“For letting Domino, and Sparx fall. And for not.. For not saving Daphne in time.”

Her hand moves to rest on Faragonda’s shoulder before Bloom herself is even aware. “Headmistress, it wasn’t your fault. It was an all out assault and no one could have predicted it. Besides, Daphne can still be brought back, can’t she?”

Faragonda smiles, albeit weaker than when Bloom first walked in. “Yes, she can. I tied her spirit to a part of the Nymphix power source.”

Bloom hums noncommittally. “Then you can help me bring her back later, if only to make you feel like you’ve atoned for your sins.”

The Headmistress chuckles. “I suppose so. I apologize for all this. I won’t evict you from the school, since you seem to have a grip on what you’re doing.”

“Thank you, Headmistress Faragonda.”

“I don’t want you causing trouble, though. You staying at Alfea is not an excuse for you to go mad with your past timeline’s knowledge.”

Bloom winces. “Actually, speaking of trouble- I need your permission to grant safe haven to someone running from those three witches I mentioned.”

It’s Faragonda’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “And who might this someone be?”

“A troll. He was recruited by the Trix- the witches’ names, by the way- but I’m trying to save him before he gets killed and or punished for leaving their side.” 

The Headmistress hums. “I am willing to let him into the school, but I want him to earn his place here. Bring him back to my office through a secret entrance, if you can remember where they are.”

“I can talk to Knut about that. He’s near the school, in the forest And I remember where the passages are, don’t worry.”

Faragonda nods. Bloom moves to leave, hand on the door, but Faragonda says one more thing.

“If there is an event coming up that could harm Alfea or any of the students at any of the schools- tell me. I need to protect the children.”

Bloom nods, and leaves. The hallways are still filled with students. Some eyes turn to her in vague curiosity, but no staring. Bloom walks quickly and uses a quick detour to get out of the school faster.

She runs through the forest, breathing deep and long and using her magic to go a little faster. She tries not to go overboard, lest she gets magical exhaustion, and it works out in her favour.

“Knut? Sorry we took so long, but Faragonda agreed to letting you into the school!” Bloom calls, red hair waving in the faint breeze.

“Really?” Knut is clambering up from his nap, the rubix cube next to him solved. 

“Yeah! Why would I lie to you?” Bloom makes a motion to put a hand on his shoulder, but he flinches- and Bloom is suddenly acutely aware that she hurt him, and he’s been hurt by the Trix, or punished. Right, okay, she forgot, and now Bloom feels terrible. Knut is staring at her with wide eyes like he’s waiting for something. 

“Hey,” She says in what she prays is a soothing tone. “I’m sorry for scaring you. And I’m sorry for burning you yesterday- it was uncalled for. I never want to do it again. You- you’re innocent. Well, I mean, you did some stuff, you tried attacking me and Stella, but that’s because you had nowhere else to go and you just wanted the approval of the Trix. But I forgive you. I really, really do.”

She puts a hand on his arm, slower this time, so she doesn’t startle him. Knut sighs deeply.

“I- I know you’re being truthful. Which is better than the Trix- they lie, all the time.” 

Knut crosses his arms and looks vaguely uncomfortable, probably mulling over the Trix and his ‘employment’ with them- it was mostly just them promising him riches and power and a lifetime under their protection- it wasn’t much protection from the verbal abuse from the Trix themselves.

Bloom’s lips twist into a sad, rueful smile. She embraces him quickly. He smells like cold, comfortable earth and faintly of the minty grass below him. “I don’t doubt you. But before we start pouring all our feelings out, let’s get you into the school, hm?” 

Knut nods, grabs all the things he has with him, and he follows Bloom back through the woods, and they traipse near the outskirts of the swamp and the lake- Bloom feels the gentle tug of magic there, but she isn’t ready to see Daphne again, not yet.

They slip back inside the school through the same passage, and Bloom puts a quick notice-me-not spell on Knut, that will at least avert people’s eyes from him.

Both troll and fairy dart into Faragonda’s office again. 

“You’re back earlier than expected.” 

Bloom turns after shutting the door behind them and grins widely at Faragonda. “I’m just that good!” 

Knut shifts his weight from one leg to another, still holding his stuff, and Faragonda turns her ever sharp eyes on him.

“I’m going to guess you’re the troll that Bloom wanted me to take in?”

“T-that would be me.”

“Well then, pleasure to meet you. I’m Headmistress Faragonda. I take it that you’ll want to discuss your stay here?” 

Knut nods sheepishly. Faragonda turns her head to Bloom again. “You can go back to your dorms. I’ll discuss this with Knut- go have fun with the rest of your day, Bloom.”

Bloom curtseys, and rushes out. 

-

She’s back at her dorm in a matter of minutes, and the girls are still putting their things out (mainly Techna, setting up desk space with a proper Zenithian laptop and gear), or sitting around in the main common room. 

“Hey, girls!” Bloom chirps. There’s a general chorus of ‘hey’ and ‘oh, Varanda’ as she steps in.

Stella’s eyes light up as she walks in. “Oh, hey Bl- Varanda! Varanda, it’s almost dinner- you still up for going out for pizza?”

“Pizza is the national dish of Callisto, is it not?” Techna states, tilting her head clearly. 

“Yes and yes to both questions.” There’s a little ripple of laughter. Musa takes off her headphones, her pointed ears twitching.

“We should probably go soon then, the transit system will clog up.”

“Ugh, good to know that transit still sucks even off-planet.”

Flora giggles, and wipes her hands of the potting soil she was using. “I’ll get my jacket, then!”

There’s a flurry of activity as all the girls grab what they need for their outing.

Stella gets into a new outfit as quickly as she can though, a knee length blue skirt and an orange crop top that hangs off the shoulders. She’s got a bit of jewelry on, just some gold bracelets and a necklace. Stella’s gorgeous, even in a simple outfit.

Techna simply waves her hand and a short shoulder cloak with a hood and a green circuit design on it appears in a shower of purple sparks. It’s translucent while somehow looking cozy. (Though, Techna probably thinks this weather is stiflingly warm, considering she basically lives in a climate like the arctic, so she wouldn’t need much else.) It’s very cute on her.

Musa ties a flannel around her waist and puts on some chunky combat boots. Bloom can see her snapping on some bracelets with spikes on them- it works well with her general aesthetic, and Bloom feels that pang in her heart again.

Flora tosses on a cute light brown jacket, but doesn’t put any shoes on- Lynpheans typically go barefoot anywhere they go unless the weather is extreme. She also grabs a hairband and puts it in her hair, a nice light green to match her eyes. She looks perfect.

Bloom merely brushes her hair once or twice, then grabs a baseball shirt and changes into it. She debates grabbing a hoodie. She shrugs and tosses it back onto her bed.

“Took you long enough,” Stella teases. “We were going to leave without you!”

“Oh, how rude.” 

There’s another smattering of laughter, and the girls leave the dorm with all their stuff and they lock the door, and then they head out to the transit system.

As they leave Bloom almost feels like she’s forgetting something.

(Later in the night, she’ll curse the fact that she forgot her hoodie when she’s trying to stop crying in a cold alley.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol bloom is bi as hell sorry not sorry


	6. in colder/warmer light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bloom sees old enemies and old family members and breaks down a little

The pizza is really, really good. Bloom tries not to eat it as fast as she possibly can, but it’s a losing battle.

All the girls are sitting around a nice table in the heart of Magix. The sun has set and the stars are shining brightly above the city. 

She totally forgot she didn’t have any money, but Stella winked and said that her dad had more than enough money to pay for one small slice of pizza. God, Bloom is so glad she has rich friends (that’s not the reason she befriended Stella, but it is a perk).

Magix is alive at night, neon lights and magic displays making the city feel like a fantasy book come alive. People drive flying cars and there’s some people in their magic winx, flying about and going about their business. Bloom forgot how much at home she feels on Magix, which is a very different feeling from Earth. She was more of an outsider on earth, probably because she was different from everyone else. Here, she’s surrounded by people of her own kind. 

Bloom scratches at some of the scales growing in on her arms. They're really itchy.

“Mm, this was SUCH a good idea.” Musa groans, leaning back in her chair. “I haven’t ever had pizza before, and this is like… heavenly. It’s like, nymph level good.”

“Eh, I’ve had better.”

“You mean there’s better pizza out there? Oho, now you guys have to take me.”

Stella laughs. “Of course! If you consider us friends I will happily take you to get good food.”

The conversation continues and Bloom pulls out her phone to check the time. Techna catches a glimpse of it.

“Where did you get that? That looks like prehistoric tech.” She asks, leaning over slightly to get a better look.

“Eh, I like retro stuff. And besides, modern tech tends to give me a mild headache if I look at it too long.” (it’s kind of the truth. Both earth and magic tech give her a mild headache if she uses either too long.)

“Can I look at it?”

“Yeah, of course.” Bloom hands it over and Techna immediately turns it over and puts a spark of her magic in it- a little green screen made of magic shows up. Numbers and words flow through it in Zenithian, which Bloom can’t really understand other than the very basics. 

“Wow, this is really ancient. I can hardly understand half of the stuff on here!” Techna peers at the screen. Flora tries looking at it too, but she can’t read Zenithian, and the screen is backwards from her perspective. 

“Heh, guess I’m lucky that I know how to use it.”

“It says its from Earth though… how did you even get to Earth then? They don’t have any magic. Though, it would explain the old tech.”

Bloom’s heart stops. All she can hear is the crackle of the Dragon’s Flame in her, and her vision whites out for a moment- how the FUCK is she supposed to tell them? God, she forgot how she did this last time.

“You okay, Varanda?” Stella says, putting a gentle hand on Bloom’s arm.

“Uh- fuck- one sec.” Bloom stands up and pushes her chair in. The girls look concerned, and Bloom feels the sudden urge to run.

“I uh, I gotta call my parents, I promised them, I don’t think this phone will reach them-” Bloom starts moving. “I’m gonna go call them in a phone booth, be right back.”

Bloom runs once she turns the corner to get to the phone booth. Fuck, she forgot about her secret identity for a hot minute there. She could tell them, but then again, she tends to run away or hide from problems she doesn’t want to deal with.

She steps into the phone booth and breathes for a second. These phone booths don’t need money for them, just in case of emergency. Besides, global communication became available centuries ago in Magix- and commonly available in the past few decades. Most phone booths are free, which is really nice.

Dialing the numbers in and waiting for her mom to pick up is nerve wracking. Not because of the call itself, but her brain is going over how she left the table and she’s cringing.

“Hello, Peterson residence!” Bloom’s mom answers the phone. Bloom smiles, even if her mom can’t see it.

“Hey mom! Just wanted to call you like I promised you I would, how are you?”

“Oh, sweetie! Oh, I’m perfectly okay now that I know you’re okay. How’s school? Did you have any classes today?”

“No mom, courses start tomorrow.” Bloom twirls the phone cord around her finger and turns around in the booth, looking out towards the street. “And school is great, I’m sharing a dorm room with Stella and 3 other girls.”

Bloom and her mom chat a bit longer, and Bloom makes a few promises about doing well in school and coming to visit over the break.

A flash of white hair. Bloom looks. It’s Icy, in a casual white faux leather jacket and a blue miniskirt. Oh shit. She forgot. Knut would have come sneaking by and Bloom would have gone after him, but she has Knut on her side now.

“Bloom, sweetie, are you okay? You haven’t responded yet.” 

“Yes, I’m fine.” She says absently. “Look, I have to go, the last bus is leaving soon and Stella is calling me. I’ll call you later, okay?”

She barely gives her mother a chance to respond before she’s hanging up and darting out the door to the booth. Bloom, smarter and wiser this time, casts a notice me not. Last time she tried this she got snuck up on, by Darcy. From what she remembers, Darcy mainly focuses on Dark magic, but she has some level of Sight too.

Bloom follows Icy into the same alley she remembers, and Stormy and Darcy are already there, in casual clothing. Stormy’s wearing a giant fluffy red jacket, sliding off her shoulders. Bloom can see Darcy’s solid dark purple eyes if she peeks a little beyond the glasses which make her eyes look normal.

“Where the hell is Knut? He said he would meet us here at this time sharp a few days ago.” Icy snaps. The temperature drops.

“Dunno sis. He hasn’t been responding to us since the second time he tried going after the Princess of Solaria.” Stormy mutters, kicking a can on the floor of the alley. 

“UGH! That incompetent LOON- he said he wouldn’t fail, and look at what happens.”

“I could just look for him with my Sight, Icy.” Darcy twiddles her hair around one finger. 

“You and I both know your sight is iffy at best, horribly off at worst. You keep getting random visions and intuitions about stuff. You need to practice it more.”

Darcy rolls her eyes. Bloom continues watching, even if her heart is stopping. (She’s not ready to fight them. She’s not. She can’t, not again-) She’s waiting for them to start talking about-

“What about the Ring then, do we know anything about where it is?” Bingo. 

“Unfortunately no, because Knut failed to relay any information before he dropped off the grid.”

“Fine. We can get the Dragon’s flame without him. We just have to steal the ring from the Princess, and we have to figure out how to make a distraction.”

“Isn’t that corny school dance coming up?” Stormy asks. “We could easily infiltrate and steal the ring then.” 

“Of course. We might have to do something drastic, like putting snake rats in their food.”

Stormy snickers, and the girls leave the alley. Bloom holds her breath until she knows the witches are out of range. She uncasts the notice me not and curls up behind some boxes. 

The witches- they look like the Ancestrals. The Ancestrals are related to the Trix, or at least they look similar and sound similar and act similar, and Bloom can’t help the surge of panic. She can’t fight the Ancestrals or the Trix, she won against both and look at where that got her.

Stuck in a time she doesn’t belong in.

Bloom starts crying. She may be taking this in stride but god, she wanted to see her planet freed from the frozen curse laid upon it, she wanted to see her birth parents, alive and well, and she wanted everything to be okay. She beat the Trix, she beat the most ancient Witches alive, and now she’s weak.

Bloom is sobbing all alone in the alley, head in her arms as she leans against the wall of the building. Panic slowly stops washing through her system. She breathes deeply. Listening to the crackle of flames under her skin helps. She wipes her eyes and tries to cast a spell to freshen herself up, so she doesn’t look like she’s just had a mini breakdown. Keyword being ‘tries’.

“Why isn’t it working?” Bloom mutters. The sparks don’t fly up, they just flutter to the ground before fading.

Right. Her magic is still intensely volatile, since this body isn’t used to it. And her emotions tend to fuck with her powers too. 

Bloom sighs and stands and dusts herself off, then stumbles out of the alley. She’s lucky she didn’t fight them this time.

She walks back down the road she came from and Stella is halfway up the street, head swivelling side to side, and all the other girls are looking too.

“Oh, Varanda! There you are!” Flora chimes, running up to Bloom and hugging her. Bloom stumbles again from the sudden weight on her. “We were so worried after you ran off like that, and you said you would be back soon but it’s been almost 45 minutes!”

“Oh, I’m sorry for worrying you. I just-” Bloom stops talking as Stella slams into her too, another hug added onto the pile. 

Musa and Techna look at each other and shrug, and add themselves onto the hug. Techa doesn’t hug for long, she’s not used to physical affection.

“Yeah, I just- I’m kinda homesick. Sorry.” None of them look super convinced, but they drop it.

“The last few buses are gonna leave soon. Y’all wanna head out?” Musa says, leaning away from the hug and jerking a thumb in the direction of the station.

Everyone untangles from the hug, and they head off to the station. 

Bloom looks out the window once the bus starts moving- the scenery melts back into forests and melts into mountains, and Bloom can see her reflection in the glass, lit by the purple lights in the bus.

Stella is napping on her. Her golden hair is really soft, and she’s also really warm and dimly glowing. 

Flora and Techna are looking at something on Techna’s phone, and Flora’s head is on the other fairy’s shoulder. Flora giggles every few minutes, and Techna is humming. Musa has headphones on, and she’s bobbing her head in an uneven beat, tapping her feet. It’s a quiet bus ride otherwise.

Alfea comes into view, hexagonal windows still lit as girls are still up, learning about their rooms and getting their clothes prepped for the next day. 

Bloom gently shakes Stella to wake her up, and she yawns and stretches.

The girls get off the bus, and they head inside, and they prep for bed.

“Uh, girls? Before you all go to sleep, can I like… talk to you? It’s kind of important.” Techna tilts her head again, and Flora looks curiously interested.

Once the girls have finished everything relating to getting ready for bed, they all sit in the common area of the dorm. They’re all in various states of sleepwear- Stella’s wearing a fancy nightgown that gets more and more sheer near the bottom, Techna’s wearing sweatpants and a simple tshirt. Musa’s wearing a sports bra with a band logo, and shorts. Flora is just wearing a really oversized tshirt.

“So what’s this about, Varanda?” Musa’s slouched where she’s sitting, obviously tired.

“Uh, just that. My name isn’t Varanda. It’s Bloom. I’m not the Princess of Callistio, I snuck in with Stella’s help.”

The girls look shocked, and there’s a beat of silence.

“But.. why?” Techna asks. “You obviously could have just signed up the proper way and gotten in without sneaking or lying.”

“That’s the problem- I couldn’t have. I’m from Earth.”

“Oooh!” Flora chimes. “That’s why your phone was such old tech!”

“Yeah. Anyway, my deception aside, there’s a bigger problem. There’s three witches who want to steal your ring, Stella. They’re called the Trix, and they’re from Cloud Tower.”

“My ring? Why? It may be a magical heirloom but only an heir to the Solarian throne can use it!”

“They think it has the Dragon’s Flame in it.” There’s a much longer silence this time.

“Wasn’t the Dragon’s Flame extinguished almost two decades ago?” Musa asks. “Like, the whole magic dimension knows it’s gone.” 

“They want it anyway, I guess they think it lives on in something.” Or someone, Bloom thinks, but she doesn’t voice this thought.

There’s more silence.

“Well, I don’t know what to do with this information right now, but it’s best to be on our guard.” Flora says, standing from the couch. “Thank you for telling us, at least. It’s nice to know you trust us.”

Bloom grins at Flora. Flora flushes for some reason. Bloom wonders if she’s getting sick. 

“Have you told the Headmistress yet?” 

“Yeah. She understood.”

“Damn, I would’ve thought that she would have kicked you out! You deserve it, for lying to the teacher’s faces. You’re lucky as hell, Vara- I mean Bloom.” Musa cackles. 

“Wow, is your penchant just being kind of rude to me?” Bloom quips, and Musa throws a pillow at her.

Everything immediately devolves into a pillow fight, with the girls tackling each other and tossing pillows into each other’s faces.

There’s laughter and giggling and Bloom’s having fun. All of them are. And she’s so thankful that she’s back with her friends. Even if being stuck in the past kind of sucks, there’s some highlights to it.

That night, after the pillow fight and after Bloom laughs all the remaining sadness out of her, Bloom falls asleep.

Her dreams are foggy and misty but she can make out the shape of Daphne, glowing and stable within the shifting background. Bloom is lucid enough to understand what this means, now, and she knows who her sister is.

“Daphne?”

“Bloom. Bloom, my angel.” Daphne outstretches her hands. Her one tone eyes stare at her with something like love, but Bloom only sees the mask on her sister’s face, and she’s reminded of the Obsidian dimension. She shakes the rising fear away, and she looks in her sister’s eyes.

“It’s okay, Daphne. It’s okay.” 

Daphne’s sheer clothing waves in an invisible wind that doesn’t exist. Daphne’s face is still expressionless through the mask.

“You’re here.”

“I am. I know you can’t really talk to me, really talk to me, because you haven’t regained your strength yet. But I’m here. I promise.”

Daphne glows brighter. 

“Bloom.” And with that final word, Daphne fades into nothing. She’s left the dream, and gone back to a magical slumber within the lake. The dream shifts into something less heartwrenching and more into fantasy. 

The rest of her dreams are filled with hazy kisses to beautiful people, that she can’t remember the faces of. But she feels safe. She is safe.

Bloom wakes up to sunlight streaming through the window and the sound of birds tweeting. She sleepily glances at the clock.

“Oh SHIT, breakfast ends soon!” 

It’s not a fantastic start to the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah.  
> anyways my tumblr is at @benniechu and if u ever wanna tag me in stuff or u just wanna see me yelling im there


	7. tears like diamonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bloom goes to class and sees herself for the first time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (EDITS WERE MADE TO THIS CHAPTER ON JANUARY 10th, 2020 TO MAKE LAKE ROCCALUCE A BAY INSTEAD.)

Bloom slides into a seat at the cafeteria, next to her roommates/friends from another life. The drops her bag beneath the table so no one trips over it. Techna glances over at her, then looks back to her miniature laptop to work on something.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Bloom mutters grumpily, grabbing a muffin with edible moonflower petals sprinkled on it.

“Well, you looked like you were dead asleep, and you looked pretty happy too!” Flora chirps, putting another spoonful of her yogurt in her mouth. “I didn’t want to wake you up, I apologize.” 

Bloom huffs a sigh as she bites into her muffin. It tastes vaguely like lavender and some other spices. 

“Next time just set an alarm, doofus.” Musa smirks, teasing. It’s good natured though, Bloom can see it in the way her eyes crinkle as she smiles.

Stella crunches on a fruit that looks like an orange, and Musa eats some kind of meat- her sharp teeth make quick work of it. 

The girls finish their breakfast amongst the chatter of all the other students. It’s almost 8:30, so the girls get up from the table and move towards their class- It’s with Professor Wizgiz, about transformation magic and a basic rundown of magic.

They get to the class, sit down in a cluster near each other, and fill the room with their aimless chatter until Wizgiz pops his bright, leprechaun-ish face through the door, and he transforms into an elephant, much to the delight and astonishment of many of the girls in the room. He starts to talk about the importance of transformation magic and its practical uses. 

Bloom doesn’t focus on the lesson. She jots down a few notes, and makes sure she knows what she has to read for the week, but other than that she tunes out and listens to the flames in her core and scratches at her scales. The first few have almost finished growing in. 

Her face is suddenly staring back at her, and she jolts- the mirrors have just been distributed to the class, presumably with the expectation that they’ll change their hair colours. 

Stella is primping and making what she thinks are attractive faces in the mirrors. Bloom snorts quietly and turns to her own mirror quickly as Stella glares at her. 

Musa’s changed her hair to a shocking neon pink- but only the pigtails that are in her hair. She squints at her reflection.

Flora hasn’t managed anything yet. She groans and puts her mirror down, then puts her head down on her desk.

Techna has a streak of bright green in her hair, and somehow managed to change her eyes to purple too. She looks satisfied.

Turning to her own mirror, Bloom glances over her facial features- a light sprinkling of acne on her cheeks and nose, tiny blue scales growing in near her hairline, and eyes that are slowly beginning to look more reptilian- the pupils look more like slits, now. The irises also have a touch of gold ringing the outside now.

She concentrates, bringing a colour to the forefront of her mind- light brown. She pools the dream of that colour into her fingertip and touches her hair- the colour bleeds in from the roots, and when Bloom looks in the mirror next, her hair is a similar colour to Flora’s, all the way through.

“My my, miss Bloom! I’m quite impressed!” Wizgiz says loudly from the front of the classroom, jaunty features turned up in a smile. “I didn’t expect you to get a handle on this so fast, especially when you haven’t been taking notes!”

Bloom flushes, heat swallowing her cheeks like a wildfire in a forest. “Uh- I guess I’m just a natural then?”

There’s a ripple of laughter and a few envious mutters across the classroom. Bloom buries her face in her hands and stifles a groan.

“Bloom?” Flora’s small voice is behind Bloom, and she swallows her embarrassment long enough to look up again to Flora.

“Yes?”

“Sorry, I just- I’m having a lot of trouble with this kind of magic. Can you give me some pointers?”

Bloom waves her hand and cancels the spell on her hair, and her natural hair colour slowly bleeds back in from the roots again.

“Yeah, of course. What are you having trouble with?”

Flora twirls a strand of her lighter hair around a finger. “Well, I can’t visualize it properly- It’s just so hard to get my magic to focus on my hair.”

Bloom nods. “I get it. I think it’s less of getting the magic out of you and then trying to get it to where it needs to go.”

“What do you mean?” Flora asks, tilting her head slightly. 

“My method for this kind of stuff is imagining a colour,” Bloom says. “And bringing that and magic to my fingertip, then touching what I want to change the colour of.”

Bloom demonstrates, but this time she does Techna’s hair colour- Techna looks up from across the desks and grins, her hair a bright blue now. It matches the hair of a girl in front of her. 

“Nice hair, Bloom.” 

“Thanks, Techna! You too!” Bloom smiles back, then turns again to Flora. “It’s like using your finger as a magic wand, can you at least try that?”

Flora bites her lip, shifting her weight from one foot to another, and nods. She closes her eyes, brings a finger to her hair, and then a bright red-orange bleeds into her hair, and within moments her once brown locks are now the same shade as Bloom’s natural hair.

Bloom holds up her mirror for Flora, and Flora lights up as soon as she sees her reflection.

“I did it!” She crows, running her hands through her hair and looking at it for herself.

“You did, but it’s not a good colour on you.” Stella leans in, taking one of Flora’s now-orange locks in her hand.

“Your natural hair is nicer, but you should try bright yellow!” Musa chimes from behind Bloom, leaning forward to smile eagerly at the trio. Flora laughs and tries again, and her hair is soon a shocking yellow. Techna averts her eyes, complaining that it’s too bright, and Musa teases her about it. Techna responds by changing Musa’s hair to bright green. 

All of the girls in the class have tried Bloom’s method by the end of class, and some of them thank her as they depart for their next one. The lessons all begin to blur together, and Bloom’s magic fails her in Magic Chem 101, but she managed to get a perfect score on some small quizzes to test the girl’s knowledge in Biology and History class. 

The girls are eating dinner now, in the main hall, and chatter washes over them. Bloom picks at some kind of mashed tuber and vegetables. She misses home, and she absently wonders if she should sneak out to visit her half dead sister.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Knut, who’s sweeping up some dirt near the wall, but he looks much happier already. Bloom gets up and walks toward him.

“Hey Knut!”

“Oh, Bloom!” He says, and his eyes already look so much lighter and happier. If this is one day without the influence of the Trix, how will he look in a week? A month? A year? 

“How has Alfea treated you so far?” Bloom asks, putting a hand on his arm. She can feel the stares on her back, but she ignores them. 

“It’s been good! Ms. Faragonda asked me if there were any jobs I wanted to do to earn my place here!” Knut explains, twiddling his thumbs. “I told her that I was used to cleaning, and I enjoyed it sometimes, and she asked if I wanted to be a janitor!”

“That’s good!” Bloom exclaims, grinning widely. “You’re magic-resistant, aren’t you? That means if there’s any explosions in the lab there’s less risk of someone being hurt by the cleanup!” 

“Yes, I’m magic resistant! I didn’t even think that it would be useful until you said it, haha.” 

“You’re going to do great at this job, Knut. I know it.” Bloom pats his arm twice, then waves goodbye as she walks back to her table. 

As she sits down, all of the girls look at her strangely except for Stella. 

“What was that all about, Bloom?” Flora asks, picking at her fish. 

“Uh, his name is Knut. He’s basically on the run from those witches I told you about.” 

“Wait, the witches?”

“Yeah, he used to work for them, but after he and another troll destroyed my door while fighting me, I realized he was hurting, and I offered him an out.”

“That’s really kind of y- wait. You said he fought you?” Musa’s eyes are wide as she stares at Bloom. Bloom squirms in her seat.

“Maybe.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“Well, no!” Stella butts in, her excitement too much to contain. “Bloom fought them off and incapacitated the blue one, who was causing the most damage- then somehow, partway through she talked to Knut and made him defect to her side!”

“Oh my god, how are you not dead.”

“Stella, you were there?” 

“For nymph’s sake, what the hell- you fought off two grown trolls, and you lived?”

Stella continues to explain the story of how she and Bloom met, and the girls ooh and ah at the right moments, and Bloom adds in some details. Techna, Flora and Musa are all shocked when Bloom tells them that she had never received formal training before.  
Stella is talking about how she made a bouquet of flowers to prove she was a fairy, when the bell rings to alert everyone that dinnertime is over and that the girls should return to their dorms for the night.

The girls all groan, and Bloom and all of the Winx return to their dorm, making idle chatter on the way up.

Their bedtime routine continues- Stella and Techna argue about who gets to shower first, and Flora takes it while they’re busy snarling at each other- and soon they’re all in their proper beds, asleep.

Bloom is lying awake in her bed, listening to Flora breathe deeply. She feels Daphne’s consciousness tugging at her brain, telling her to sleep so she can talk to bloom. She refuses. She’s going to see her sister, whether she likes it or not tonight.

With a rustle of blankets, Bloom gets out of bed and changes into leggings and a t-shirt. Flora stirs, and Bloom freezes.

“Mm, why are you up…” Flora groans quietly, eyes peering out in the dark.

“It’s okay, Flora. Go back to sleep.” Bloom whispers back. 

Flora complies and once her head hits the pillow again, she’s out like a light. Bloom’s lips quirk up in a smile- Flora’s never been keen on waking up in the middle of the night. 

Bloom tip-toes into the common area of the dorm, and she can hear Musa’s quiet classical music drifting through the walls. She opens the balcony door as stealthily as she can, then leaps off the balcony.

She transforms halfway down, so she’s fine. Her wings materialize, and she flutters upwards a few seconds before she would have hit the ground. 

As she flies back up to close the door to the balcony, she gets a good look at her new transformation. 

The tiny gold crown on the top of her head has little wings on the side of it now, and she has similar, wing shaped clips in her hair, above her ears. The bright sky blue of her outfit is now more of a gradient into proper royal blue, and there’s a thin sheer fabric connecting the top half of her outfit to the bottom half. There’s scales making the transition from solid to sheer fabric more fluid. 

Her skirt has a small, ruffly, light blue petticoat underneath now. Her outfit still glitters, and her body still radiates dragon-fire warmth and light. Her wings though- they’re gorgeous, and they look brighter, with more colour and vibrancy to them than her magic winx ones. 

She looks like a much improved version of her magic winx form- It’s like a blend between her magic winx and her Enchantix form.

She’s stunned. She didn’t know it was truly possible for her fairy form to do this- to blend between magic. 

Taking a moment to think, Bloom theorizes- The clash of her magic from the past and her magic from the now long gone future could have caused this, blending the two together into a form that she doesn’t know the name of. Or maybe, since her power was transferred into this body, it caused her fairy form to do an abrupt evolution, into a form that was not truly anything. 

Bloom shakes her head. She can think about that later. 

She flies towards the lake, where her sister is. There’s fireflies in the forest, lighting her way. They almost make a path. Bloom idly wonders if that’s her sister, calling her. 

Bloom lands in the reeds near the edge of Roccaluce Bay, and she sees the telltale glow of her sister’s spirit. She parts the reeds and grasses before the beach, and she covers her eyes from the blinding glow.

Daphne’s spirit is standing on the top of the water, the ethereal fabric of her dress stretching on the surface of the water. Her solid gold eyes stare at her through the mask, and a breeze makes her hair sway.

There’s a buzz of pure magical energy in the air, and the hairs on the back of Bloom’s neck stand up. Even when her sister is imprisoned as a mere ghost, she’s still one of the 9 most powerful fairies in the universe. 

“My sweet sister. Bloom. Why are you here?” She asks, voice like bells ringing across the still water. 

“...Am I not allowed to say hi to my sister, Daphne?”

Daphne says nothing for a moment. Then she drifts towards her sister, bending down ever so slightly and putting a hand on the side of Bloom’s face. Bloom shivers and digs her feet into the sand. Her sister’s hand is uncomfortably cold and warm all that the same time.

“You know me.”

“Yes. I missed you, Daphne, I really did. I’m so sorry I didn’t visit you earlier. I wasn’t ready.”

Daphne stares into Bloom’s eyes for a long moment. 

“You are not from this timeline, are you?” She says. “You killed the Ancestrals. Then you were sent here.” 

Bloom is silent. Her eyes are wide. “How did you know?”

Daphne’s usually neutral face now has a small smile on it. “Did you forget I can feel the Dragon’s Flame’s imprint upon the timeline? I wielded it once, too.”

Right. Bloom forgot about all of that. Daphne’s light laugh echoes over the bay and she is resplendent against the moon and the fireflies, and the water glows with her magic energy.

“I may not know you, not properly,” Daphne says kindly, moving her hand away from Bloom's face. “But I am willing to bond with you. I hope I can live up to my alternate self.” 

Bloom’s eyes fill with tears, and she wipes her eyes as she starts to sob.

Daphne wraps her frail, ghostly arms around her little sister, and the cold and warm touch comforts the both of them as Bloom sobs her heart out. 

Bloom’s tears are like diamonds in Daphne’s light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> would yall believe that i'm actually writing this with no solid plot, and i'm just going with the flow


	8. this lovely mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which there is a party, a discussion, and some shopping

Bloom and the girls are all happily eating breakfast, going over notes from the past few days, and double checking homework. Musa is begging Flora for her homework- Flora refuses to give Musa the answers to their Magical Chemistry homework. Musa would have asked Techna, but Techna had refused right off the bat. Stella is trying to wheedle the answers out of Flora as well, (she would never stoop as low as begging,) and Flora just looks vaguely amused.

Bloom chuckles into her cereal, and reads a book that she brought down. It’s about the history of Melody and the civil wars that brought refugees across the universe to its safe haven. Apparently Melody was one of the only planets without a war going on at the time. Because of all the refugees, Melody has one of the most diverse gene pools in its solar system.

There’s a ringing noise. Bloom looks up. 

“Students!” Faragonda calls over the cafeteria. “If you could all listen for a moment, please.”

The chatter dies down after a few moments, and everyone’s eyes are expectantly on Faragonda, who gazes over the sea of students kindly.

“Now, as some of you may know, the annual gift-giving ceremony between Red Fountain and Alfea will be happening tonight.” The chatter immediately starts up again, with many people squealing in delight and joyfully hugging in excitement. Griselda purses her lips and taps her spoon against her crystalline glass to silence the students again.

“Since we only have a few precious hours to prepare, classes are cancelled for the day. Please put your best effort into making sure the Red Fountain students are impressed with our campus!” 

The chatter starts up once again, and talk of decorating wafts through the room. Stella and Flora look absolutely delighted, and even Musa and Techna look at each other and grin. 

Bloom simply sighs and puts her book down on the table. The party means the Trix, and the Trix means the stealing of Stella’s ring. 

Bloom does NOT want to break into Cloud Tower again, thank you very much, and she would prefer if Stella’s ring stayed where it belonged. 

Breakfast is soon over, and Bloom and her friends are strolling down the halls, which already have streamers of every colour draped down the sides. The halls are an absolute mess of activity, busy with thin, willowy girls bustling around with balloons and tablecloths, and stocky, solid girls with tables under their arms (they are very effortlessly picking up the tables- it’s very attractive in all honesty).

Flora is happily using her magic to make flowers and vines crawl up the pink columns, flowers of all kinds growing from them- kingblossoms, jadedrops, and what looks like a Lynphean Orchid, but it’s only a mimic. 

“I’ll supply the music!” Musa crows, jabbing a thumb at her chest. “I’m the fairy of Music, so I think I can at least do something half decent!”

“I sure hope so, or else you would be a disappointment to your title.” Stella tosses her hair. Musa immediately pinches Stella’s cheek, and they begin to have a lighthearted yet heated argument about who was more of a disappointment to their title. 

“What will you be doing for the party, Bloom?” Techna leans and tilts her head towards Bloom, bright green eyes boring into her. Bloom feels her Dragon’s Flame spiral a little, and her body heats up.

“Uh, I haven’t really figured that out yet. Maybe I’ll help put up banners?” 

“Hm, I might consider joining you, as my magic isn’t quite suited for these matters.” 

The girls make it back to the dorm and Flora grabs some extra plant seeds to help her make more of the columns decorated. Stella and Musa are still arguing, but Musa is grabbing some of her magic collapsable DJ stuff so she can set up in the grand hall. Techna is helping Musa carry it.

Bloom ducks out of the dorm and heads to the Headmistress’ office. She knocks three times, and the door clicks open.

Stepping in, she sheepishly sits down. “Hi, Miss Faragonda.”

“Bloom. I trust this isn’t for any ridiculous reason, but for a problem?”

“Yes. You remember how I mentioned the Trix?”

“Of course.”

“They will most likely be coming to the school tonight to steal the Ring of Solaria, one of Princess Stella’s family heirlooms.”

“Goodness- all that trouble for a ring, that only truly works for an heir of Solaria? Why on all the nymph’s lives would they want it?”

Bloom sighs gustily, slouches in her chair. “They think it has the Dragon’s Flame.” 

Faragona’s eyes widen. “Hmph, you would think some girls hunting after the Dragon’s Flame would do more research on where it would possibly be!”

Chuckling, Bloom looks Faragonda in the eye. “The witches of Cloud Tower usually take this night to try and play pranks on the other students here, right?”

“Yes. It’s a well kept secret that I actually encourage this tradition- the witches need practice, and they usually keep the pranks to minimal things that cause no long lasting harm.” Faragonda laughs again, and she taps her nails on her oaken desk. “Professor Griffin thinks it’s a good tradition as well- it’s probably why I keep letting her do it.”

“Speaking of those pranks, the Red Fountain members will be bringing golden eggs as presents to the ceremony- in my timeline, the Trix hexed them so they would hatch snakerats instead of butterflies.” Bloom makes a face. “Urgh. Snakerats.” 

“This was for a distraction, so they could snag the ring?”

“Mm, yes. Is there any way you can put a ward around the school that prevents people with true ill intent from getting in the school?” 

Faragonda sighs, adjusting her glasses on her face. “I will make an attempt. If I cannot, then I will warn you. For now, you should probably leave me be- go enjoy your day, Bloom.”

Bloom gets up and leaves, and gently closes the door behind her. 

Time to set up for the next few hours.

-

Okay, so they only decorated for like an hour. Bloom and Techna has been putting up banners and posters when Stella suddenly realized that they all needed better dresses. Needless to say, they were all pulled from their decorating time to go shopping immediately. The Winx went out to go get dresses for the party, because none of them had ‘suitable outfits’ in Stella’s opinion.

All of them were crammed into a dress shop, picking over dresses and accessories. Bloom picks at her scales that are now growing in on her legs- she forgot how fast they grew.

Techna is looking at a fancy outfit, with a nice purple dress shirt and black pants. 

Stella has a large bundle of dresses in her arms, putting them up against Flora and Musa to check if they look good. Musa is chuckling as she holds up a frilly red monstrosity- Stella retches and Flora’s giggling in that lovely lighthearted way. 

Bloom suddenly has a long blue dress with gold accents in her arms- Stella looks at her expectantly.

“Well? Try it!” 

“Stella, you know I hate long dresses. I’ve hated every long dress you’ve forced me to wear today.” 

Stella waves a hand and pulls Bloom up by the hand- was she always this strong?- and shoves her near the dressing room.

“Just try it! The nymphs know I’m the only one with a fashion sense in here.”

Techna snorts as she picks up the purple dress outfit off the coat hanger. 

“Yeah, only Solarian fads. You know little to nothing about Zenithian fashion.”

Stella immediately bristles and Bloom ducks into the change room before she has to mediate the argument.

The change room is nice and dark, but there’s a mirror that glows enough for Bloom to see her reflection with ease.

She changes into the dress- it feels a lot different from the other dresses she tried on. Looking in the mirror, she turns around and looks at the back.

It’s a nice light blue, like her original Magic Winx form- it’s got nice gold lines running up the sides and going along the sleeves, and there’s a gold sash going around her middle. She actually really likes this- it’s swishy but not too itchy. It's even got a layered skirt, which is very pleasant.

Stepping out of the change room makes her squint, but Stella is immediately upon her, and she puts her hands on Bloom’s shoulders. 

“It’s perfect!” She cries aloud. “Bloom, you look so good!” 

Flora makes a noise in the back of her throat that sounds like approval, her green eyes looking her up and down. 

“That does suit you, but the length could be shortened.” Techna comments, using her phone to quickly scan Bloom’s measurements.

“You have magic, so you could probably do it on your own.” Musa says, glancing at a red kimono style dress.

“Hm, I could. I think I’ll get it!” 

The girls cheer and hug Bloom in the cramped, sunshine filled dress shop. 

Bloom laughs with them, and feels whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bloom being attracted to pretty girls who show amazing feats of physical strength? yes. bloom being attracted to pretty boys who can wield swords and weapons like an extension of their body? yes. techna wearing a tuxedo? YES. 
> 
> (i do realize this chapter is a little short. i just felt like it, yknow? sorry anyways lol)


	9. stones in water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which there are dresses, dances, and failed plans too

The Winx manage to get back to Alfea about an hour before the party really starts, and everyone is rushing around, making final decorations and getting changed. Some girls from planets known for fashion put on heavy makeup, but some girls just forego the makeup entirely.

(before they get back to the dorm, Griselda stops Bloom and tells her that the ward idea didn’t work. Bloom curses, and Griselda tells her it’s unbecoming of a lady to curse.)

Bloom changes into her dress again. It takes a bit to pull over her head properly, and to make sure it’s not wrinkled, but Bloom manages. It’s soft, which is nice and smooth against her skin. The gold glimmers in the ambient light. She feels like a princess. And besides, this dress was a much better choice than the monstrosity she picked out in the last timeline. (she shudders- pink frills and purple flowers still show up in her blue cut cloth dreams)

She’s shortened it for now, but she can change the length of the skirt with a wave of her hand. She’s tied up her hair too, done up in a braided bun. (her dead sister taught her how to braid and plait hair a lifetime ago. vanessa never taught her, nor mike, but they worked late, had to make money, but that's ok)

Stella is in a similar dress, but it’s long and orange, and the ruffles fade into blue. There’s moon and star decals too, to go with her whole ‘sun and moon’ theme. She just has a dark blue headband in her hair.

Bloom and Stella stare at each other and after a silent moment, they laugh.

“You look good.” Bloom says quietly. Stella’s eyes crinkle in fondness- it’s only been a few days but their friendship, their bond, is getting stronger than it ever was.

“Why, thank you! I worked hard to put these decorations on this dress!” Stella twirls, and it flares out- she looks like a marigold. “I wish Techna would admit that I’m actually fantastic at all sorts of fashion- this is Argenail fashion, after all!”

“Isn’t Argenail one of the up and coming planets in the fashion scene?” Bloom comments idly, striding into her and Flora’s room to grab one last bobby pin and a last glance in the mirror.

“It is! Goodness, I’m so glad someone around here pays attention to fashion!”

“Heh, I just listen to you when you go on a fashion rant. You talk a lot about how on different planets, most teenagers wouldn’t be ‘absolute fashion travesties’ as you put it.”

“It’s not my fault that most of the people here have terrible taste in clothes!”

Bloom laughs again, and stabs the pin into her bun. She can hear Techna open her room door and start the argument all over again, and Bloom can hear the fondness in their words.

They’re all almost ready to go down to the party. Bloom is reluctant to go for long, though. She knows what the Trix will do. However, she has an advantage this time- they don’t know she exists, as far as she’s aware.

This time, Bloom asks Stella to make a fake ring to put in the jewelry box. Stella complies with only a little groan, muttering about how difficult it is to make complex, detailed items out of magic.

Stella wears the real ring under a notice-me not. It’s on her ring finger. Bloom idly wonders what engagement ring Stella would want to wear, if she got married to Brandon.

The party is already starting to go into full swing by the time the Winx get down there- Specialists are mingling with fairies, and there’s some active flirting- tall girls chatting up boys of average height, people of every gender making comments and hearty giggles on other people’s appearances.

The decorations sparkle in the pulsing lights, and the thrum of Musa’s DJing skills and her powers pulses in everyone’s bodies like a heartbeat.

The Specialists that Bloom remembers and missed are on the dancefloor- Techna and Timmy seem to have gravitated towards each other, and Techna asks Timmy to dance with her. Techna is tall, imposing, and resplendent in her tuxedo, and Timmy seems to light up at her request. Bloom smiles gently.

Riven is up near the DJ booth, asking to see how it works, and Musa rolls her eyes and mouths what looks like an insult, but scoots over to let Riven share. The music takes on even more of a rumbling bass, and people feel it in their feet and in their souls.

Flora is talking to a pretty Specialist girl. The girl wears a basic school uniform- not one of the horrible tight spandex suits, but an actual uniform that looks like some private school uniform. The girl has ginger hair and faintly glowing freckles, and Flora keeps tucking her hair behind her ears and flushing bright green.

Stella and Brandon are hitting it up too, dancing quickly with moves only practiced princes and princesses could pull off. They’re smiling and laughing and Brandon’s light blue tux accents the darker blues in Stella’s dress. They’re a good match.

Someone taps Bloom on the shoulder, and she jolts, swinging around to face them- there’s magic on her fingers, magic on her tongue when she turns. She thought she was going to be attacked. She bumps the person’s arm, and punch spills onto them and the cup drops to the floor. It’s Sky. Oops. She just spilled punch all over his nice outfit.

Sky holds his hands up in the universal gesture of ‘dude don’t hurt me’. He looks like a deer in the headlights, blue eyes wide open.

“Sorry about that! I didn’t realize you were so skittish.”

“No, no, you couldn’t have known! Oh no, I’m so sorry about your outfit!” Bloom says in a rush, using the magic left on her fingers to try and cast a cleaning spell. Unfortunately, she was never the best at them. She runs to grab napkins.

They‘re sitting on rickety foldable chairs on the edge of the dance floor, Bloom pressing napkins into the stained part of his top. What a disaster. Not even half an hour into the dance and she fucked up.

They’ve been pressing these napkins into his shirt for five minutes before Bloom finally looks at his face. Bloom’s own face burns with shame, even now.

Sky looks resigned, but not upset. Bloom usually cursed his kind hearted nature when they were in bad situations, but now she’s thankful.

“It’s okay.” He says quietly, barely audible over the thrumming remix Riven and Musa are playing over the speakers. “It’s not as noticable anymore- your charm did good work.”

Bloom blushes, her now slightly pointed ears twitching. “It was nothing. And it was the least I could do, honestly.”

Sky chuckles. “It’s good to see you again, even if the circumstances we met under are not…” He struggles for a moment, “Ideal.”

“Are you talking about how I accidentally spilled very pigmented punch on your very nice light outfit?” Bloom quips. Sky laughs again. It’s a nice, ringing sound.

“Yes, I am in fact talking about that. But who cares.”

“I care, asshole, because it was such a pretty outfit and I literally went and ruined it a half hour into the ceremony.”

“Whatever!” Sky says loudly, throwing his head back. “If I get you to dance with me will you stop feeling bad about my outfit?”

Bloom doesn’t even hesitate. “Of course.”

They get up from their chairs and move into the dance floor- the music has changed to slow dance music. Bloom glares at Musa. Musa just winks, still holding one side of her headphones to her head.

Sky puts a hand on her hip and holds another out- she puts one of her hands on his shoulder and puts her other hand in his. It’s pretty cold. Hers is pretty toasty though, so they balance each other out.

They’re waltzing easily, practiced steps. Sky looks vaguely flustered. Maybe he’s never really done this in such a public setting. Maybe he’s worried about his identity again. Maybe he’s worried about dancing with a girl who’s not Diaspro- a fiancee he doesn’t even love.

They move easily together, a few dips thrown into the dance. It’s easy to trust him, easy to fall into an unpracticed but smooth rhythm, flowing like water over stones.

The speakers keep blasting music, and the tempo picks up, and Sky twirls her, and she dips him. His hair is long when he’s upside down, and she can feel him laughing.

It’s a nice dance. She almost dropped Sky in that dip, and he stepped on her toes once, but it’s fine. People might be staring at them in vague interest, but that’s fine too. She really did miss Sky.

Bloom spots movement outside the windows. A flash of curly purple hair and the colour pink. Fuck.  
“As fun as that was, I need to go to the bathroom. Catch up with you later?”

“Sure!” Sky says, and she doesn’t catch the rest before she darts away.

Bloom sneaks in the halls, casting a notice-me not- god, she loves this spell- and follows Stormy.

She and the other Trix are there, near the presents the Specialists had so specially prepared for them. The golden eggs gleam in the pale light of Icy’s magic, making itself known on her hands. It’s cold here.

“Thank you for joining us at last, Stormy.” Icy says coldly, not looking at Stormy. “Want to actually help us put the snakerat hex on these stupid eggs?”

“Duh!”

The Trix hold hands, and Darcy squeezes the hands of her sisters, and they begin chanting something in a language Bloom can’t remember. Magic glows, settling into the golden eggs, and Bloom can feel it, the sickening energy.

Darcy breathes in, and Icy sighs, putting a hand on her head. Stormy wobbles, but only a little.

“Good job. Now, once these start hatching, we take advantage of the distraction and take the ring. No one will even know.” Icy says.

Suddenly, Darcy sways violently- even without her magical glasses on, Bloom can almost see as her blank, pure violet eyes roll back in her skull. It stops a few moments later. Bloom is unnerved and feels sick, but the Trix don’t look at all surprised.

“Why do you have to have visions when I am talking,” Icy hisses. “This is important!”

Darcy glares at Icy. “Someone will know we’re taking the ring.”

“What? Are you seriously telling me someone will fucking find us?” Stormy snaps, and Icy holds up a hand to silence Stormy.

“Stop being crude. Now, what do you mean.”

“Someone knows that we’re going to take the ring. The one in the box. It’s a fake one. The real one is somewhere else.” Darcy snarls. Her darkness magic arcs off of her for a moment. “Dammit!”

Icy pinches the bridge of her nose. The temperature pitches more, and Bloom shivers.

“What a pain. Did your sight see where it was, Darcy?”

Darcy shakes her head. “Negative. I only know that the one in the box is a fake. The princess probably has it.”

Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK. This isn’t going as planned. Trust a usually unusable and unstable power to suddenly work against Bloom’s favour.

Bloom manages to cast a silencer on her shoes before she runs down the hall and towards the dance again. She doesn’t care if the Trix are suspicious anyway, she needs to warn Stella.

The dance has mellowed out a little, but there are still dancers and flirters and people hanging around. Bloom immediately picks Stella out of the crowd though.

“Stella!” She hisses, grabbing Stella’s arm. Stella jerks, and turns towards Bloom, eyes wide.

“What is it?”

“The witches got in. They hexed the presents from the Specialists, and they know the ring in the box is fake!”

“What?!” Stella shrieks, and Bloom puts a hand over her mouth. The music is loud enough to cover her shout, though, so it’s probably fine.

“What?!” Stella repeats, quieter this time. “We have to stop them!”

“Yes, that’s why I even came up to you!”

They quickly round up all the other girls- Techna looks alarmed when Bloom asks her to help, but Techna grabs her tuxedo jacket and runs with her to the hallway with the eggs. The Trix are gone by now. They probably infiltrated the crowd, looking for the ring themselves. Bloom feels a gaze crawling on her skin. She runs faster.

Flora, Stella and Musa are there already, all grim and determined. Flora tugs at the edge of her pink dress, which has magical flowers acting as a petticoat. Musa fidgets with her tight red dress, the high neckline itchy.

“Do any of us know a reversal spell?” Bloom says urgently. It’s only a matter of time before the witches come back.

“I do.” Techna says quietly, turning to Bloom. “I don’t have enough magical power to reverse it all, so we need to converge our magic for this.”

Techna grabs Bloom and Musa’s hands, and they’re all linked. She can feel the magic thrumming through their arms, like the beat of a forest, the music in the dance, the sun giving off radiation, fans whirring in a computer. The dragon fire in Bloom’s core flares up, giving off magic, and they all inhale sharply.

Techna says a long string of words in Zenithian. Bloom kind of understands the gist of it. She’s basically praying for a purge of magic that she wants to be rid of.

The girls hum along with her, and they all feel the magic releasing it’s iron grip on the peaceful magic of the eggs.

They did it. It’s okay. Musa breaks into incredulous laughter. Flora joins her.

Bloom would be more relieved but the temperature is pitching again and she shadows grow larger and scarier, and there’s static making her hair rise.

Fuck.

The Trix are back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, a week from exams, at the end of my rope and ready to snap: hey guys heres a new chapter that i didnt even think about  
> i listened to No Children and by brain went feral :/  
> also, would you guys (the readers) object to me slapping some of my own art in next chapter? just tell me lol


	10. last ones out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which a delayed fight finally happens, bloom doesn't get a concussion, and there's a dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ. there is a dance scene in this chapter with lyrics. it's from Mitski's Two Slow Dancers. heres the link.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUfkfJfsKrc) if you want to listen to the music when the dance starts, here's your chance.

The hairs on the back of her neck stand tall, like soldiers marching to their death. Bloom feels dread in the pit of her stomach, feels her throat closing up, feels her vision tunnel.

At the end of the hall, the Trix are there- Icy is gnashing her teeth, looking feral, eyes wide, teeth bared in a mockery of a smile. The shadows slink around Darcy, and Stormy is grinning madly.

“Well, well, well, look who we have here!” Icy crows, her thin, icicle-esque form straightening. “A few pathetic fairies, who decided to mess with our magic?”

“You ruined the gift that the Specialists made for us!” Musa snaps.

“Oh, the wonderful Princess of Solaria- you have the ring, don’t you?”

“No! Go away and leave us alone, you don’t have the right to be here to mess with the gifts, and you certainly do not have the right to harass a princess, or anyone!”

“Consider this- we don’t give a singular shit.” Stormy snarls, taking an angry step forward. “Now give us the ring, or we blow one of you to pieces.” She points a finger towards Bloom.

Bloom’s heart stops. Not again. Not again. NOT AGAIN. She starts to hyperventilate, and is she really having a panic attack right in front of her enemies? Apparently so.

Stormy smirks. “At least one of these fairy twits is afraid of us.”

Bloom takes several deep breaths as her friends step in front of her.

“Don’t worry. We’ll protect you.” Flora whispers to her, putting a small, gentle hand on her arm.

Bloom nods shakily. She may be suffering from a mild panic attack, but her trust is stronger. She waves her hand and a dome of protection shimmers into existence around them, and fades from sight. The Trix don’t notice.

These domes are a lot of magic to keep up continuously, but Bloom has a large reserve, so she should be fine.

Stella yells. “MAGIC WINX!” The rest of the Winx follow, and soon they’re all fluttering in the large hallway, casting spell upon spell to try and incapacitate the Trix. The Trix are fighting back of course, with Darcy attempting to blind Stella and Icy and Stormy working together to make a deadly hail of sharp icicles.

The protection dome simply makes sure the walls and floor aren’t harmed. That doesn’t mean her friends aren’t getting hurt though.

Bloom watches as Techna is smacked to the ground, and Techna screams. That’s the last straw for her.

“MAGIC WINX!” she roars, and there’s a wave of heat, melting all of Icy’s icicles and stopping everyone in their tracks. Flora’s vines wither into the ground, and Musa’s speakers stop blasting Darcy in the ears for a moment. Darcy and Stormy are knocked to the ground.

“Hhh. HHHhhh. HHHHHH.” Bloom hisses, opening her maw to reveal sharpened teeth and light. There’s fire from within. Bloom looks up, eyes narrowed, reptilian pupils sharp. Her wings glimmer.

She roars, and a plume of fire spews out of her gaping mouth towards Icy- she barely manages to dodge.

Bloom flutters upwards, blue fairy dust trailing behind her- All the winx stare at her. She looks towards Musa.

“Keep blasting them with sound.” She turns to Stella. “Blind them.”

Turning to Techna and Flora, Bloom hisses out, “Bind them. Techna, if you can stop their magic then do it.”

They all nod, and Bloom shoots towards Icy and grabs her by the throat. She hears the sounds of vines growing faster than natural, hears the sounds of loud music, but all she can do is stare into Icy’s face and see how shocked and startled she is.

“You.” She hisses, tightening her grip. Icy chokes loudly, scrabbling for a grip, struggling for a way out of the chokehold. There’s water running in rivulets down her hands and onto the floor- Icy is trying to freeze Bloom, but the aura of warmth is too strong for her to even make a small frost.

“Meddling with the eggs. Trying to harm us. Hurting my friends. Pray tell, what kind of punishment does that behaviour deserve?”

“I-” Icy tries desperately to respond with a scathing reply, eyes narrowed, but they widen again as Bloom’s palms start to sizzle.

“I have no use of dealing with you.” Bloom says. She’s not really talking. It might be the nature of the Dragon, awoken inside of her. She doesn’t know.

Icy drops like a stone, and vines grow and trap her completely- a green web of technology magic wraps around her and settles into her skin, blocking her offensive magic for the time being. Stella blinds her with a flash of light.

Bloom detransforms, and slumps onto the ground, dress pooling around her. She’s tired. Exhausted. She wonders if she has magic exhaustion before she passes out. All she hears is a shout of her name from Musa.

-

Bloom wakes up again with a jolt. Her head slams into Stella’s jaw, and Bloom is hit with a sense of deja vu and also a headache.

“Ow!” Both of them cry, and Stella puts a hand over her mouth as she straightens.

Faragonda is over Bloom, kneeling. Her hands are giving off faint blue sparkles- a revival spell, like the one she used to wake Stella up all those days ago.

“Headmistress.” Bloom slurs her words, lying back down onto the cold linoleum floor. “Is everyone okay?”

“Miss Techna and Stella have some bruising and scrapes. Young Musa and Flora are mostly unharmed, but Flora is partially blinded in one eye due to a spell.”

“That’s… better than them being dead.”

“It is. Now, you have magic exhaustion. Headmistress Griffin is coming over to bring these girls back to their school.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“Miss Musa explained for me. I understand that you were trying to prevent the Trix from tampering with the eggs and hurting everyone else. I also understand that you were the one who cast the protection dome around the hall- I appreciate that.”

“Okay.. how long was I out for?”

“Merely a few moments.”

Bloom closes her eyes and relaxes onto the cold floor.

“Don’t fall asleep yet, Bloom.” Stella says sharply, gently putting a hand under Bloom’s head. “Faragonda isn’t done yet.”

Bloom puts a warm, freckled and scaled hand on Stella’s arm. “You’re so strong. All of you. You did this. You stopped them.”

Techna laughs, somewhere above her. “That was all you. You almost obliterated them, objectively speaking.”

“I couldn’t- I couldn’t have-” Bloom grimaces as Faragonda presses a finger into her furrowed brow, and a pulse of diagnostic magic runs through her. “If you guys didn’t help then I wouldn’t have beat them. I was too busy- too busy panicking.”

“You still did good, Bloom. Literally you almost roasted those witches to ash, though. Reign it in next time!” Musa gently punches Bloom’s shoulder, and Bloom giggles and holds her hand.

“Ms Bloom, your magic exhaustion isn’t severe. I’ve taken care of it for now, so you should be able to walk and do things normally. I won’t take you to the infirmary, but I would advise you to take it easy, though. You’re incredibly lucky that you don’t have a concussion.”

Flora helps Bloom up, and Bloom stumbles over her dress. She frowns and grabs it, and gently shifts it so she won’t trip over her pale blue outfit.

“Can I keep dancing? We unhexed the gifts, so the girls can all get their gifts.”

“If you feel well enough.” Faragonda smiles. “I will take the Trix to their headmistress.” She gives the witches a sharp, very displeased look, but they don’t seem fazed. They merely sit in their bonds made of ivy and code. Then again, Stella temporarily blinded them.

“Thank you, Faragonda. I really appreciate it.”

“I know. I know what you’ve done for this school today.” Faragonda smiles in that way that says ‘thank you for warning me, thank you for helping the school.’

Bloom smiles back, and lets a half-blind Flora lead her back into the dance hall.

The winx are chilling again, chatting with Timmy (who looks very flustered around Techna, especially since she’s wearing a tuxedo) and Riven (who looks grumpy as always).

Brandon and Sky bring out the chest full of glittering golden eggs, and Headmistress Faragonda announces the gifts, and the eggs are handed out. They’re all opened on the count of three, and beautiful sparkling butterflies fill the air. It’s like molten gold pouring upwards, twirling towards the ceiling. Bloom thinks it’s just as beautiful as the first time she saw it.

Flora oohs and aahs, and Techna snaps a holo-pic of the spectacle. Bloom stays in her chair, golden eggshell slowly turning to dust in her palms.

The butterflies continue to flitter as the dance does on. Bloom stays in her chair as she watches the specialists dance with all the girls, and she watches as the Winx and Sky twirl and bounce along to the beat of the songs.

Slowly though, people begin to trickle out of the dance. The Red Fountain students begin to file out. Techna, Flora and Musa leave too, telling Bloom to take it easy, and that they’ll be back in the dorm. Soon enough, there’s only a few stragglers around.

There’s a hand held out in front of her. Bloom jolts.

“Care for a dance?” Stella says quietly. Her voice is nervous. It cuts through to Bloom like a knife through fog.

“Of course.” Bloom replies immediately, and her hand slots perfectly within Stella’s.

Stella pulls the both of them up, and pulls the redhead out of her terrible creaky chair. She tugs Bloom towards the empty dance floor. A slow song comes on, and Stella’s solarian skin is glowing dimly like a dying star in the dark room.

She puts a hand on Bloom’s waist, and continues to hold Bloom’s right hand. She slowly waltzes the two of them around the dance floor.

The lyrics float around them, like bubbles of some undefinable emotion. Even without knowing the lyrics, Bloom sings along.

“Does it smell like a school gymnasium in here? It’s funny how they’re all the same.” She warbles. Stella sings with her, eyes closed as they continue to move.

“It's funny how you always remember, and we've both done it all a hundred times before. It's funny how I still forgot.”

They sing and warble together in harmony, eyes closed, shifting closer. Bloom’s head is practically on Stella’s chest now, and their arms are wrapped around each other- their wings both flutter into existence.

“It would be a hundred times easier, If we were young again, but as it is, and it is…”

“We're just two slow dancers, last ones out. We're two slow dancers, last ones out…”

It’s a tender moment. Bloom hears Stella’s voice rumble in her chest, hears her heartbeat. They’re almost still, in one place, simply swaying along.

The song draws to a close. Bloom lifts her head. Stella’s arms are still around her.

Stella is flushed, ever so slightly, glowing still in the dark dance hall. She’s got the most tender smile on her face, and it speaks volumes about how happy she is. Bloom smiles back in the same way.

“Thank you.” Bloom says quietly. It echoes.

“Don’t mention it.”

They let go of each other’s hands. They move to go upstairs, and Bloom can’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a link to some of the art i did for this chapter! (https://www.instagram.com/p/BytwGtkB60h/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet)  
> there's more of my winx art on this account, so if you want to look at that, go ahead.  
> thanx 4 reading


	11. silk strung skyline, crayon wax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bloom learns how to use another branch of magic, stella starts an argument, and daphne talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (EDITS MADE TO THE CHAPTER ON JANUARY 10th, 2020)

Sigils and Runes class sucks. That’s what Bloom thinks, at least. It’s a difficult subject, with finicky topics and spells. You need to be precise and patient with your writings, gentle but firm with your carvings. Sigils are commonly used in enchanting common items, like mirrors and pens. Runes are used for protection and causing large-scale effects over a certain area. At least, that’s the basic magical knowledge that Bloom has on the subject.

Honestly, she’s really in this class in case she needs to protect her shit from the Trix. Only Techna is taking the class with her, because none of the other girls had felt the need to take this class. The others in Magical Creature Biology. (Stella didn’t like the class- she had complained about dissections and said that the guts got under her nails.) Techna’s company is pleasant though. She’s practical and cordial, but that’s just how she is every day. Even her fairy form is practical- a simple purple and light blue jumpsuit with only a cloth covering her mouth and nose.

Bloom glances out the window. The courtyard is pretty empty, save for one or two students who don’t have classes right now. There’s butterflies around though, and the flowers are blossoming. She really wants to leave the class and go outside, so she can visit Daphne, but class is still in session. 

Techna is scribbling a sigil down for ‘unending ink’. It’s most likely for a pen. It’s refined and angular- the modern style. Bloom likes the traditional style better, it’s more swoopy and flowy. Both styles work fine, it really just depends on preference and what type of magic you use.

“Bloom, can you hand me a 1.3 chalk?” Techna asks, putting her hand out expectantly for the chalk. Bloom dutifully hands her the 1.3 chalk. Techna scribbles another circle into the sigil and sighs. 

“I don’t think chalk is going to work for this.” Techna brushes her hair out of her eyes. “It’s not sticking to the ink, so some of the lines are broken.” 

“Why don’t you use a different medium? I use pencil, sometimes.”

“No, I require two differing colours for this sigil. Pencils are all the same colour.”

Bloom closes her eyes and conjures two crayons, one orange, one green. “Try these. They’re made of wax, so they conduct magic really well. And besides, they’re different colours anyway.”

Techna puts down her chalk and gets a new piece of paper, shoving the original one to the side of their conjoined desk. She uses the crayons to scribble out another sigil, and this time all the colours overlap properly. 

“These are amazing. What are these?” 

“They’re called crayons, they’re an earth thing. Usually kids use them.” Bloom laughs.

“Oh, so these are used for children? If they were made with the intent for expressing emotions and creativity, maybe the sigils will work better.”

“That’s what I was thinking!” Bloom says, as she totally wasn’t thinking that. 

Techna picks up the paper and holds it up to the light, squinting. 

“This might work.” Techna shrinks the paper and grabs a pen with no ink in it. She presses the shrunken paper to the pen, and puts a finger over the paper.

She mutters a small incantation to melt the wax on and to activate the sigil. When she pulls the paper away from the metal of the pen, it glows.

“Well? Test it!” Bloom says eagerly, eyes glittering. Techna complies, writing ‘Test!’ on a scrap paper.

“You did it!” Bloom cries, grabbing Techna’s arm. “That’s great! I’m glad it worked!” Techna smiles at Bloom, and it’s genuine. Bloom knows that this is a new development, since Techna only recently started trying to emulate other emotions. 

“Well now, this is pleasant.” The professor says above them. Techna’s head snaps to the teacher. The teacher has a neutral smile on her face, hawk-like eyes boring into the both of them. 

“Miss Delaine. I suppose you’ve seen my pen with the ‘unending ink’ sigil I emblazoned?”

“I have, Techna. I must say, I am quite impressed. This is only the first week of Sigils and Runes class, and you’ve used colours in an interesting and functional way.” Bloom agrees with the praise given to Techna- Techna is amazing, after all.

Techna bobs her head in a nod. “Thank you, Miss. It wasn’t all me, though. Bloom offered me the crayons to help me work around my chalk and ink issues.” 

Miss Delaine turns her gold, piercing eyes on Bloom. Even though Bloom has been on the receiving end of many of these glares, this one makes her shrink back a little. Miss Delaine gives a slightly wider, less neutral smile.

“I must commend you for that, then. I’ll give you a bonus mark.” And Miss Delaine whisks herself away to check on her other students. 

Bloom lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Techna laughs lightly.

“She’s so scary!” Bloom hisses through her teeth, putting her head down on her desk so she can look at Techna. Techna gently whacks Bloom on the forehead.

“You know she has advanced hearing, right.”

“Shit.” Both of them burst out laughing after that. They calm down quickly, lest they get the attention of Miss Delaine again.

“Can you actually help me with a sigil, though?” Bloom asks.

“Of course. What kind?”

“I wanna put a colour changing sigil on a lipstick tube, so I don’t have to buy more.”

Techna rolls her eyes and casts a quick spell to pull the needed materials to her, then puts them in front of Bloom.

“Try making a sigil first, and I’ll help you along if needed.”

“Aw, Technaaa…”

“I can’t do all your work for you.”

“Pleaaaase?” The two of them spend the rest of the class begging (in the case of Bloom) for help with the sigil. It’s actually pretty fun, and Bloom is enjoying her time trying to make Techna bow to her puppy dog eyes.  
-

Musa is asleep on the couch when Bloom walks back into the dorm with Techna. Bloom drops her bag near her room entrance, then flops over the back of the couch, peering into Musa’s face.

“Wake up, sleepyhead!” Bloom yells, and Musa jolts awake, flailing, wide eyed. Her stunned expression quickly turns into a scowl.

“Bloom, I swear to god, this is the second time you’ve done this.” Bloom smiles cheekily and quickly leans back as Musa sits up and attempts to grab Bloom’s face.

“Sorry, I know you probably needed to nap, but lunch is soon.”

Musa groans at that, flopping back down onto the downy pillows. 

“Uuugh, I don’t wanna eat. I just wanna sleep for like, ever. Magic Creature Bio sucks, and it’s boring. I wish we had a music class.” 

“Isn’t there one next term? It’s a vocal class for anyone interested.”

“Yeah, I signed up, but it’s not happening now so im yearning for it, even in my sad, sad, music classless dreams.” 

Bloom drapes herself over the light blue couch again, glancing out the window momentarily. It’s still sunny out, with only a few clouds in the sky. “Well, when the music class does come around, I’m sure you’ll do incredible in it.”

Musa smiles fondly. Bloom smiles back. 

Stella slams her door open. “Who took my conditioner?! I need that, or else my hair turns into an absolute snakerat nest!” 

“Ask Flora, she likes stealing your hair products when you’re not watching.” Musa calls from where she’s on the couch.

As Flora peeks her head out of her bedroom and Stella begins to argue with her, Bloom tugs Musa up and pulls Techna with her.

“Let’s just go down to lunch before we get pulled into the argument too.” 

They all head down to the food hall, and Techna shows her now emblazoned pen. Musa oohs and aahs at the right moments. They’re chatting happily together, and Musa has an arm around Techna’s waist. Neither of them seem to realize that, since they’re so absorbed in their conversation. (It’s cute, considering that Musa is so much shorter than Techna. Then again, most people are shorter than Techna.) 

There’s a lot of dishes that are culturally native to other planets, today. Bloom spots some traditional Lynphean dishes, with a lot of high mineral veggies and tubers. 

Bloom grabs a dish that she knows is from Vaonaaj. She tried it with Helia in her last timeline, it’s a high energy but very light dish. It’s like rice and a thin soup, and Bloom equates the taste to clam chowder without the clam. 

She lifts her spoon to her mouth, sipping at it, but not slurping. Stella hammered manners into her once she realized Bloom was a princess. As much as both of them hated the lessons, Stella said, and Bloom quoted, ‘It’s better that you fuck up now instead of in front of a handsome prince and his parents.’ 

When Stella said that, she winked, of course. Bloom had flushed and she rolled her eyes. 

God, she really misses Stella. It’s not like she doesn’t talk to her every day, but she misses her Fairy of the Sun and Moon from the last timeline.

Bloom shakes her head from side to side. She really shouldn’t open this mental can of worms today.

Stella and Flora finally join them at the worn mahogany table, and everyone is chattering happily. Techna and Stella are talking about another class they have together, comparing notes, and Stella is whining about how much homework the professor is giving them. Techna merely pulls out her phone and lists off how much homework they have. It’s much less than Stella said there was. 

Musa and Flora are talking about music genres from both their planets. Both planets have heavy classical music inspirations, but Lynphea falls more into a celtic kind of area, while Melody falls into the traditional classical that it’s so well known for. 

After lunch, it’s more classes, but since she knows the subjects already she flies through it with nary a thought. It blurs by, and soon enough it’s dinner.

Bloom just finishes eating and leaves the table with a lame excuse of ‘I needed to go ask a teacher something, and I forgot about it.’ In reality, Bloom is going to visit Daphne. She slips through one of the passages, and exits the school’s hallowed halls almost immediately. 

Soon, she’s in the forest. She hears the squawks of birds and the fluttering of wings, but other than that it’s relatively quiet. As Bloom treads towards the bay nearby, she feels the buzz of latent magic upon her skin.

The turquoise green grass yields beneath Bloom’s feet, and she parts the tall grass that’s in front of her- Daphne’s spirit is still there. Her smile is more open this time, less guarded and haunted by the past.

“My darling sister. What brings you to my humble resting place?” She leans towards Bloom, her hair and dress blowing in an eternal wind. Her blank eyes stare, but it’s not intentional. Bloom doesn’t even know if Daphne has eyelids. 

“Please don’t refer to it as a resting place.” Bloom says. “That makes it sounds like you’re permanently dead.”

“I’ve given up all hope of being resurrected, Bloom.” Daphne sounds resigned, but not unhappy. “I think I may as well grow to accept this as a tomb.”

“That’s really depressing, Daph.” At that, Daphne laughs. It’s a light laugh, one a princess would use in the company of entertaining people. 

“I apologize, then. I’ll stop referring to the lake as such.”

“Thank you.”

“Regardless of my inane chatter, I would like to know how your day was.” 

Bloom takes off her sneakers and blue rainbow pattern socks, puts them on the grass, and sits at the edge of the water. She dips her toes in. The water is glowing, and it illuminates every surface nearby. It makes everything look unearthly. Then again, Bloom isn’t on Earth. 

“Mm, it was alright. I had sigils and runes class, and that was really the only exciting thing.”

“If I may ask, what did you make?” Daphne’s spirit rests next to Bloom. Bloom feels soothed. Daphne’s presence is like Phoenix song given form. 

“I helped my friend Techna with an ‘unending ink’ sigil,” Bloom explains. Daphne makes a noise of approval and understanding. 

“Traditional or Modern?”

“Modern. She’s from Zenith, what did you expect?” 

Both of them share another laugh, and their conversation continues, meandering to other subjects. Bloom talks about the Winx. Daphne talks about her duty as a princess. 

It’s comfortable. Daphne takes notice of Bloom’s legs beneath the rolled up pants.

“Your scales are growing in.”

“Yeah! They’re super itchy, but that’s because they’re growing in super fast.” Bloom says, gesturing to her scales, pulling her leg out of the water to emphasize.

“Royal blue scales? Now that’s an uncommon colour.” Daphne comments. “Not as rare as purple, or even gold, of course. Royal blue is just uncommon.”

“What colour scales did you have?”

“I had orange, originally, but they changed to gold when I achieved Nymphix. It was rather exciting, really-” Daphne smiles, a touch of melancholy in her expression. “-Mother and Father were overjoyed.”

Bloom feels emotion twist in her chest. She never got to talk to her biological parents in her last life. She died before she got the chance.

Daphne looks at Bloom out of the corner of her eyes. “I realize you never met them. Do you want me to tell you stories about them?”

Bloom shakily exhales. “Yeah.”

As Bloom lays down on the grass, feet still dipped in the water, Daphne talks about their parents. Talks about their successes, their losses, their unending love for both of their daughters. Daphne talks about how their parents accepted her, when she told them she wasn’t a boy. 

“They told me they loved me, and that they would get me a crown that wasn’t so princely. They truly accepted me, even though I didn’t live up to their expectations that they gave me when I was born.”

“I didn’t know you were trans.” Bloom says quietly. “You didn’t tell me in the last timeline.” 

“Hmm.” Daphne says with a small smile. Her mask hides the cheery crescents of her eyes, but Bloom knows they’re there. “Sometimes, when I ramble, information just seems to tumble out.” 

Bloom sighs and turns her eyes towards the sky. There are constellations and the arms of the galaxy strewn across the sky like silk. The two of them spend a moment looking towards the stars, hoping, dreaming.

“You should get back to your room, Bloom. Heavens know you'll need the rest.”

“Ugh, Daph! You’re such a mother hen!” Bloom cries. Daphne laughs and floats upwards, dress still blowing in the eternal wind.

“You can’t get better at magic if you don’t sleep.” Daphne teases. 

Bloom kicks water at Daphne. Their laughter echoes across the water and into the firefly filled night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [me, banging pots and pans together] DAPHNE IS A PROUD TRANS WOMAN AND SHE DESERVES TO BE THE QUEEN OF SPARX  
> i also headcanon that techna is a transwoman and that helia is a transman, but those headcanons havent made it in yet  
> also, most of the worldbuilding headcanons comes from @emsartwork on tumblr. please go check her stuff out its so good


	12. i wish i could touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bloom has a nightmare and realizes that she actively has the power to change things

Bloom’s eyes are open. Not her physical eyes, mind you, but her dreamscape eyes.

She’s watching the Ancestrals hover near a portal, crackling with magic. It’s blue, foreboding, shadowed by the long, tall forms of the ancient witches.

The Ancestrals have no emotion on their faces. Their witch-marks glow (that’s not supposed to happen. they were never supposed to glow), and they wait. Their hands are outstretched. Their capes billow in magic-forced wind. Pink, purple and blue light shines dimly. 

Oritel and Marion are standing, further from the portal and closer to Bloom. Their faces are shadowed, and the nightmarish, grey twisting walls emphasize the looming terror in Bloom’s heart. 

“Mama. Papa. Please. Please don’t leave! Please, you can’t leave me.” Bloom is begging, but it’s not her own voice. Daphne’s? 

 

“We’re so sorry, Daphne.” Oritel says. It echoes. “Please protect your sister.” 

“You will go on. Protect the legacy of our people.” Marion murmurs, putting a delicate pink-scaled hand on Bloom’s face. “Now go. Protect Sparx with your life, Nymph of Domino. My daughter.” 

Marion drops her hand, and she and Oritel turn, marching to the portal, to their doom. Their cloaks trail behind them, on the cold grey ground, and the Ancestrals reach out hands to grab them and steal them away forever. Bloom desperately grabs at her parents, wishing she could touch them.

“MAMA! PAPA!” Bloom is screaming, running towards their fleeing backs, but it’s like running in molasses. “NO! NO! YOU CAN’T! PLEASE, PLEASE, YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO US! TO SPARX!” She is thrashing, begging mindlessly, snapping her teeth. She feels her body warm, feels her skin burn. Her eyes are alight with fire.

The Ancestrals say nothing as Oritel and Marion vanish. The Ancestral who uses ice merely stares at Bloom as she struggles in invisible bonds.

“Will you dissolve like your cosmic ancestors did?” She says. Her blank, one colour eyes stare at her with no warmth, no light, no care. Bloom screams and struggles as the shadows start to take her, they grab her body and begin to drag her away from the portal. Bloom continues to scream as she falls to the ground and tries to claw at it.

“Or will you fight?”

Bloom screams one last time, and she feels the Dragon’s fire ignite in her very soul, and with the sound of shattering glass, she explodes. 

“BLOOM! WAKE UP!”

Bloom gasps, her lungs filling, wings fluttering. Her eyes are wide, her back arched on the bed. She can feel her wings disappear as she detransforms. 

Flora is staring at her anxiously, and the rest of the Winx stare from the doorway, equally anxious. Stella’s skin is glowing dimly in the dark.

“I- I- sorry. Sorry.” Bloom gasps again, slumping down. She runs a hand over her face and through her hair. She’s incredibly sweaty, but cold at the same time. 

“What WAS that?” Stella blurts out. “You were transforming in your sleep, it was incredible! But it also looked like you were having terrible dreams.”

“That’s an understatement.” Musa says, stepping into Bloom and Flora’s room and sitting next to the disheveled bed. “You were literally screaming your lungs out. I wouldn’t be surprised if you woke up the entire castle.” 

“Ugh.” Bloom grunts as she rolls over. “It was bad. Can someone get me some water? Please?” She lays shivering on the bed, waiting as Techna goes to get her water. Flora runs a hand through Bloom’s hair, gentle and soothing. Musa hums and grips Bloom’s hand, running a thumb over the royal blue scales. Stella sits down near the bed as well, essentially becoming a dim night light for the girls in the room.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Flora’s green tinged hand runs through Bloom’s hair a few more times. “Or do you want to wait it out?”

“... Both.” 

“Okay.”

Techna comes back in, with water. It has no ice in it, and Bloom is incredibly thankful for that. 

She sips at it gently. The girls all wait patiently. Musa hums a lullaby, eyes closed, and Stella harmonizes with her in between the notes. 

“I dreamed about my parents.” 

“That’s not unusual.” Techna says. “Lots of people get homesick.”

“No, uh.” Bloom mutters. They’re dead.” There’s an awkward silence after that.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know.”

“What happened in the dream?” Flora takes a section of Bloom’s hair and begins to braid it, and the gentle tugging motion continues to soothe Bloom. Bloom sighs deeply and looks out the window. The moon is a crescent in the empty night sky. 

“I dreamed about the Ancestrals taking my parents.” Bloom says monotonously. 

“The Ancestrals are a myth!” Stella blurts out, eyes wide. “Why on Magix would you dream about them? You’re from Earth!” 

Bloom stays silent, but covers her face with the blanket. Does she tell the truth? Does she admit to the Winx that she’s from the future?

… she can’t do that. But she can tell them bits and pieces.

“I’m not from Earth. I’m from Domino.” There’s a heavy silence. It’s crushing, the mere weight of it. Domino is a public secret. At least, the reason for its demise is known, but its fate? Not so much.

“But… Domino is a dead planet.” Flora says, a mere whisper breaking the oppressive silence. 

“My parents managed to send me to Earth before Domino died.” Bloom brings her head out from under the blanket. She doesn’t open her eyes yet. “I was raised on Earth. By all means, I’m an Earthling in all but biology.”

Techna hums. “That explains the rounded ears.”

Bloom weakly laughs. It’s true, she’s one of the only students in Alfea with rounded ears. The only other person she’s seen without pointed ears is Wizgiz. 

Stella grips Bloom’s hand. Bloom squeezes back. 

“I don’t want to talk anymore. You can ask me stuff later, okay?”

Everyone nods. There’s soothing words of comfort whispered to Bloom, and everyone clambers onto the bed. It’s crowded, yes, but the girls all squish together. Techna throws up a holoscreen with a combination of her phone and magic, and she puts on a movie that makes Bloom think of those Hallmark movies from Earth.

Stella is bullying the characters for their terrible choice in fashion and boys. Musa is complaining about the soundtrack and the design of the sets. Flora doesn’t say a lot, merely cuddles into Techna’s side and laughs at the corny jokes. Techna doesn’t react to anything, but she has analyzing eyes, examining the emotions and the feelings of the people acting. 

Soon enough, everyone drifts back to sleep- it’s an early weekend morning, and everyone needs their sleep. Bloom is awake, though.

She untangles herself from the limbs of all her best friends- Techna is snoring gently, and Stella is snoring very loudly. All of the girls are weaved together, a picture perfect scene of unity. Bloom’s heart fills with an unidentifiable emotion- she feels tender and warm inside.

Bloom walks into the washroom. She shivers at the feeling of cold tile on her feet, but she turns and locks the door. She slumps down the door and leans against it, arms around her legs.

The fluorescent lights buzz above her, and Bloom picks at the royal blue scales on her legs. They shine brightly.

To put it frankly, Bloom feels like shit. 

The nightmares of her parents leaving is almost physically painful. Maybe it is- maybe it’s an imprint of Daphne’s traumatic memories on the Dragon’s Flame. After all, Daphne only passed it on to Bloom right before Bloom was sent to earth.

The trauma is fresh like grapes on a vine, Bloom thinks bitterly. And it’s even fresher because of her recent time travel from the Obsidian Dimension.

Time travel is fucked up. This could still be a vivid, vivid hallucination, and Bloom would never know until the day she woke up. But as far as Bloom knows, it isn’t. 

Bloom hisses as she accidentally picks too hard at her scales. A bead of dull red appears on her pale skin. It stands out against the blue.

In traditional Sparx culture, more specifically the country of Domino, different scale colours represented different personality aspects. Red meant bold and not afraid, but it also meant hot tempered and fickleness. Orange meant noble and mighty, but it also represents too much humility and trouble connecting with new people. 

Royal blue meant authority and promise to do the right thing. But it also meant insecurity and inherent loneliness. Bloom snorts quietly and curls in tighter on herself. It fits her to the letter.

Bloom stays in her position for a while longer, listening to the buzz of the electricity and the quiet crackle of her inner magic. 

What would have happened if she made it to the end of her original timeline? Would she finally be able to live out her dreams? Would it be her happy ending?

… why can’t she go back? 

If she can’t go back to her timeline, she thinks slowly, why can’t she make this one better than before?

A lightbulb goes off in her head.

She willed herself into Enchantix once. Why can’t she do it again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, posting chapters without editing, checking with someone else, or thinking about why my chapters are all clunky and kind of weird: haha parkour
> 
> for real though i never edit the text aside from grammar/spelling. you are getting my unfiltered thoughts. yeehaw. sorry this is short but i literally cannot care anymore


	13. great things do happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bloom returns to training grounds, fights for her life, and achieves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE NOTE: I AM USING ENCHANTI AS A PLURAL FORM OF ENCHANTIX. IT IS NOT A TYPO.  
> PLEASE ALSO NOTE: THE END NOTE IS IMPORTANT. please read it! it explains stuff

Pyros was stiflingly warm. Not that it bothered Bloom, considering she literally had the fire that started the universe in her soul.

The island was a tropical rainforest, rivers snaking through the landscape, dragons everywhere. Bloom was in her unnamed fairy form, fluttering above the lush canopy. It was beautiful, and Bloom could catch glimpses of scales and snapping teeth if she looked hard enough.

Getting to Pyros was a bit of a challenge, considering that it was on a relatively isolated planet, in a difficult to get to galaxy. But asking Faragonda to get transportation there? 

Not as hard.

Bloom just had to complete her homework and assignments for the week early, and get permission from her teachers. All of them consented, and Bloom finished her homework quickly due to past knowledge. She also said goodbye to the Winx. They had gone out to the city to say goodbye properly. It was a nice night.

Touching down again on the red earth, deep in the valley where she knows Maia will be, Bloom steadies herself on both feet and breathes in. She was lucky that she knew where she was going this time, and how to avoid the dragons that wanted to take a bite of her. 

Maia is there. She is unperturbed by this intrusion, as though she expected Bloom to arrive. Bloom always forgets how distinctive that Native Pyrosians look- ridged brows, thick scaled eyebrows, claws, and much flatter noses. They have otherworldly beauty to them that appeals to Bloom- maybe it’s because they also descend from dragons. 

“My, what a beautiful form.” Maia says kindly, eyes crinkling, glowing faintly against the crackling fire behind her. She reaches out to touch Bloom’s wings gently. Bloom tries not to let her wings twitch, but they do anyway.

“Thank you.” Bloom smiles back. “Sorry for intruding, I needed a safe place to rest and stay away from the dragons. Even though I came here to be stronger, I don’t think I’m ready to face them yet.” 

“I don’t see why you needed to come here, Fairy of the Dragon Flame. Your form is close enough to Enchantix that you could survive without it. And do not fret. Faragonda, Lady of Light, told me you would come.” 

“I need to be stronger for a lot of reasons.” Bloom explains, brushing an errant lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t suppose that Faragonda told you why I need to?” 

Maia shakes her head, resting her weight on her dragon-headed staff. “That woman never tells me anything. She merely used a small bit of telepathy to warn me of someone who would arrive soon.” 

“Sounds like Faragonda, all right.” 

Maia laughs warmly, and gestures for Bloom to sit down near the fire. Bloom gladly rests, and accepts the water from Maia. She sips from the handmade clay cup, and tells her story.

The sorceress does not interrupt, merely nods her head at the right moments. She does not seem surprised by any of it, and continues to give off an aura of extreme calm and serenity. 

“I see. You knew me in your past timeline, then?” 

“Yes. I know it seems difficult and impossible.” Bloom takes Maia’s hand and places it on her forehead. “If you need to, you can read my mind to verify my story.”

Maia merely bobs her head and hums something in her native language. Bloom’s head feels like someone is rifling through all her memories, and she gets flashes of her struggles with Valtor, her meeting with Maia in the past timeline. There’s flashes of her friendships, relationships, and her rivalries. 

Maia takes her hand away and breathes out. 

“... I did doubt you a little bit, at first, but now I realize that you are telling the truth in every aspect.” 

Bloom snorts a laugh. “Thank you for your confidence.”

“Now then.” Maia hums, picking up her dragon-headed staff. “Your form is a cross between your first and original form and your Enchantix- your theory was correct. However, it is much more powerful than your Charmix.”

“...So what does that mean?”

“It means you have the limitations of your first form, but you have less restrictions on when you can blossom into an Enchanti. Your magic has already realized and internalized that you have saved someone from your home planet.”

Bloom’s eyes widen, and her heart rate picks up.

“But… I.. I didn’t finish saving my planet!” Bloom cries. “How in the world could I have saved someone?”

Maia hums. “Your magic must have realized that you had succeeded just before you were sent back.”

Bloom shuts up. It’s heartwarming to know that she saved her people, but… she’ll never see those who she saved.

“Now, your body’s magic is still volatile, since this body only started using magic a few weeks ago. So, for now, I will help you practice control and regulation of your magic.”

“Thank you so much for helping me, Maia.” Bloom says, sincerity dripping into her voice.

“Don’t fret. I needed something to do in my spare time anyway.”

After that and a night spent sleeping in the carved out valley, Bloom spends her time with Maia, unlocking centres of magic energy in her body, practicing control, and fighting the particularly violent dragons.

Most of Bloom’s training is easy, like aiming her power at specific spots, namely Maia’s hardlight projections. Maia’s projections flow like water, dancing in the air, glowing, taunting. It’s incredibly satisfying when Bloom destroys them.

Unfortunately, Bloom’s actual power output is still unstable, finicky, and it tends to sputter out or blow up in her face. Maia tries to guide her power out, tries to help her, but in the end it’s something only practice can solve. 

Bloom spends her days fighting dragons, getting hurt, suffering from mild to moderate cases of magical exhaustion and magic blindness, meditating, and letting the essence of Pyros fuse with her magic. Pyros is full of wild magic, and Bloom feels it, deep in her bones. It’s a more flexible type of magic, able to thrive better than the more easily found natural magic.

Maia is a good teacher. She may have been old, and had difficulty changing between her native language and Magi Proper, but she still had important lessons and good wisdom to share. She laughs a lot, tells stories of her homeland, the beautiful plains and forests, and Bloom can’t help but laugh with her. Her eyes, always lined with dark blue and red pigments from the earth and tree resins, are kind and full of peace. Her wrinkles merely tell how much she has smiled and laughed. Her hands are soft yet calloused, telling of years of work with sorcery and magic. Maia’s presence alone eases Bloom’s heart. 

Days pass by, and Bloom feels her magic flowing easier, not stopping as much. It’s still strong and violent some days, but the volatility has gone down. She feels like she’s almost back to her Charmix self. It’s amazing.

One day, Maia sits Bloom down. They’re sitting on a cliff, overlooking the lush forests and the very, very active volcanoes in the distance. Bloom is in her fairy form.

“You’re almost ready to fully transform from this to Enchantix. It will be your full, true form, unhindered by your past time’s restrictions. It might still be volatile, but you will have better control this time. You know how to use it.” 

“Thank you so much for teaching me how to use my powers again, Maia.” Bloom says. “I don’t know how I can thank you properly.” 

“Don’t worry. I promise that you don’t have to repay me with any material goods, but I would appreciate you visiting me once in a while.” 

Maia presses the bottle of Pyros’ essence into Bloom’s hand, and she puts it on her neck. It’s warm.

“You know what to do. Those witches aren’t here this time to hinder you, and they cannot find you here without Valtor’s help.”

Bloom breathes in. Sharp, deep breaths, and her eyes fly open. She feels them dilating, feels her eyes shift to become more heat sensitive. Her dragon heritage is showing. She stands swiftly. Turns on her heel, wings aflutter, blue and orange sparks flying.

Her eyes immediately spot the dragon- how could she not? It’s like a walking volcano, roaring its anger and desire for a right. It stomps amongst actual volcanoes and hills, and there’s a flurry of birds escaping a nearby part of the forest. Her eyes shift in a miasma of red and orange, and she smirks almost ferally. 

She starts to run towards it, heels kicking up dust and dirt as she moves into a sprint, wind tossing her hair, chilling her skin. Bloom watches the ground vanish as she leaps off the cliff, dropping for a heart stopping moment, then flying at top speed towards the hateful dragon. It spews magma at her, and she dodges at the last moment, twirling to the side like a missile. It’s thrilling. 

“If you wanted to burn me, try using something hotter than that!” She crows, fluttering high above the dragon’s head. It’s the height of a mountain. Bloom can see its yellow eyes filled with hatred, filled with an evil weight. Bloom smirks. 

“Well?” The dragon’s response to that is another jet of white hot magma. She dodges again. Her wings are nearly clipped, though.

She gathers energy in her palms, pulling one arm behind her and one arm in front. A bow made of pure fire appears, along with an arrow. Bloom quickly darts to eye level with the dragon.

“Fire arrow!” She cries, and releases the arrow. It shoots, and swiftly morphs into multiple arrows, piercing the dragon’s thick scales. One hits it in the eye, and it roars it’s anger. Bloom flies to the ground, almost landing too hard, but she springs into a backflip and flips with her hands a few times. She looks up as she skids to a halt, her legs and one hand on the ground.

“Is that all you’ve got?!” Bloom’s scream definitely reaches the dragon’s ears, because it screeches murder back at her and moves to crush her. Bloom starts sprinting again, and once she gets her speed back, she starts to fly. Evading the dragon is no easy task, but she’s much more agile than the lumbering beast that shakes the land with every step. 

“Dragon’s Broadsword!” Bloom cries out, hands gathering with flames again, and a sword forged from fire materializes in her hand, sparks flying. She lands on the dusty red earth, skids, turns on her heel, and faces the dragon. The sword seems to crackle and roar too. 

She slices downwards, and the resounding shock of the cut manages to pierce the earth and slice through the dragon’s legs. It’s not hindered, but the malice in its eyes has absolutely doubled. 

“Fuck, I thought that would work!” 

The dragon does not, in fact, say a witty quip in response, but it does kick Bloom. Very hard, in fact. Her body flies across the open land and slams into the ground and rolls. When she comes to a stop, Bloom spits out blood. It splatters against the ground. She shakily stands up, wobbling.

“I can do this. I can do this. Come on, you can’t run like you always do. You have to be stronger.” Bloom says, warbling. She feels the vibrations of the earth as the monster steps ever closer. Bloom grits her teeth, wipes her now bleeding nose, and faces it. She flies directly up. 

“DRAGON’S FLAME!” She screams, and she feels the representation of the fire that began the universe burst out of her. It winds around her, hardlight scales shimmering and glowing, and both of them glow in time. 

She feels the hair on her neck stand up. She stares the monstrous dragon, eye to eye. Both of them refuse to yield. But Bloom fully believes in herself now. She can’t run. She’s depending on herself right now. She’s done well in the last few days, why shouldn’t she do well now? 

Bloom probably looks like a monster herself right now, bloody nose, bloody teeth, deranged look in her eye. Her hand stretches outwards, towards the dragon. 

“Thanks for the fight.”

She roars, animalistic, fear inducing, and just for a moment the enemy dragon shows fear in its luminous yellow eyes. 

The Dragon’s Flame lunges. The amount of magical output, the belief in herself, triggers her transformation. Her back arches, and she is swallowed by orange.

Bloom twirls in fire again, wrapped in coils of flame. Her hair knots itself. Braids appear. Plaits. 

She sings a song that was sung by her people, one that called for grace, power and prowess. It’s haunting. 

Metal appears on her body, plating her and protecting her. 

Her wings blossom, unfurling into something bigger and more beautiful. 

Bloom exhales and feels her shoes materialize, her crown’s weight, and her power unfolding into something far beyond what she just was. 

Her form is different, this time, but that’s okay. Her purpose is still the same.

She roars again, and she bursts out of the flames, still ready to fight. 

Bloom feels the dragon’s magical essence disappear as it’s completely and utterly consumed by the Dragon’s Flame. It valiantly scratches and spits magma, but it’s all for naught. Bloom has the edge here. She’s an Enchanti now. 

But now that the fight’s over, her magic reserves are exhausted. Bloom shakes unsteadily in the air, and her wings flutter once, twice, before stopping.

She plummets to the ground from sheer exhaustion, her new wings somehow unable to hold her up. The ground is reaching her at alarming speeds. Bloom gasps and tries to fly, tries to stop herself from her doom, but she just can’t muster enough strength, magical or physical. 

A gust of wind pillows her as she falls, and she slows gently. It puts her down on the ground. Bloom detransforms. Maia is there, hand outstretched, leaning on her staff. Her smile is blinding, and she holds out a hand to help Bloom up.

“Incredible. Incredible! You were amazing out there, fairy of the Dragon Flame.” 

“Thank you, Maia.” Bloom says weakly. “I’m really tired now, though.”

“As expected.” Maia sighs. “Your body may be better at handling magic output, but it still needs work.” 

“Yeah. I think I need a nap, though.” And Bloom then promptly faints into Maia’s arms. The last thing she hears is a surprised noise and the sound of wind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLOOM'S TRANSFORMATION IS DIFFERENT THIS TIME. IT IS NOT THE SAME AS LAST TIME. You can interpret it however you want, but please know there is metal armour on arms, chest and legs. The crown is slightly bigger and her hair is cooler. I'm fully taking inspiration from emsartwork because she's incredible and her worldbuilding slaps.
> 
> Bloom's transformation is different for a lot of reasons- new situations, stronger combined magic, and she's more inclined to combat this time, because she knows she'll be fighting a lot. also, armour. fuck yeah, bro. 
> 
> all that aside- is there anything you want to see in this story? is there anything i can improve with my writing? and are you enjoying what changes im implementing?
> 
> hope yall r having a good night :)


	14. fit to burst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bloom can't see, her consequences of lying catch up, and she is carried up stairs

Bloom jolts awake. She gasps, back arching, before she relaxes. Everything hurts. Waking up wasn’t painful, though. Just kind of disorienting. Especially when you open your eyes and you can’t see shit.

“Maia?” Bloom warbles, pushing herself up on her arms. She’s on the warm, hard ground. Granite pebbles press into her hands. They cut. Bloom hisses in pain. “Maia, where are you?”

Bloom hears footsteps and the rustling of fabric. She shakily puts a hand out, reaching for the unknown presence, light flaring in her hands. Of course, she can’t see it, but it’s a warning. A promise.

“It’s okay, Bloom. It’s just me. You are safe here.” Bloom drops her magic filled hand. Maia puts a weathered hand on Bloom’s face. Bloom jolts, then relaxes. She puts her hand on Maia’s. It’s searingly warm, but it’s comforting. Her calloused hands brush gently over Bloom’s eyelids.

“Why can’t I…?”

“You’ve gone magic blind. The output of energy from your nerves and core managed to completely shut down the nerves to your eyes.” Maia snaps.

“Is it permanent?”

“No. You will have your sight back if you abstain from magic for a few days. You’re lucky you didn’t lose the ability to move your legs, too. You used far too much magic.”

“Thank the Nymphs.” Bloom sighs, gently moving to rest on the floor again. “I still need to get back to Alfea, though.”

Maia sighs heavily. Bloom hears her sitting down. She hears the splash of water and feels a soaking, warm cloth on her eyes. Bloom shivers.

“I can send you back, though I may not be so accurate in where I send you.”

“Yeah. I understand. Teleporting is a pain in the ass.”

Maia gently whacks Bloom’s arm. “No cussing.”

“I’m blind and defenseless right now, have some mercy, I’m literally begging you.”

“No. No cussing on Pyros.”

Bloom sighs and holds out her hands. Maia makes a noise, and probably makes a face too, but Bloom can’t see it.

“When did this happen?”

“Like, right before you walked in on me being a weak and defenseless baby? Who can’t cuss? You know?”

“Bloom.”

“Please, let me say one swear word.”

“... Fine.”

Bloom grins, sharp dagger teeth bared, and she tilts her head up and yells, “FUCK!”

“No more. Shush.”

After another half-hour of Bloom being tended to, Maia helps her stand.

“I’m going to teleport you somewhere in the Alfea area, and you will most likely not end up in the building. I will try my best, however. Teleportation magic has never been one of my strengths.” Maia says wearily.

“Is that why you’ve never gotten off this island?”

“... Yes. Even after most of my people died, I believed I would be trapped in the endless waves around Pyros. That would not be an ideal fate when I have at least 40 years left to live.”

Bloom’s hands twitch. “I forgot that Pyrosians live for so long.”

Bloom can’t see Maia tilt her head ever so slightly in acknowledgement, but she knows that she’s doing it anyway. It’s something Maia does.

“We live for so long, we see stars burn out and die, if we are exceptionally lucky.”

Bloom, of course, has no idea how to respond to that, but her lips move anyway.

“Will you dissolve like those cosmic ancestors?”

Maia is silent, for a moment. But she speaks anyway. Her voice is tired, and old, and weak, but there is a new strength in it. “No. I will fight.”

Bloom hugs Maia.

“Goodbye. I promise I’ll visit someday soon.”

Maia hugs her back, just as tightly, and releases her.

“Thank you. Please don’t hate me if I accidentally drop you into a river.”

There is the sound of Maia picking up her ornate dragon staff. She taps it against the ground, there is the feeling of magic rushing into the air. The hair on Bloom’s arm stands.

Bloom feels pins and needles all over her body, there’s a rushing sensation, and she hits something soft, yet solid. She yells in pain at the sudden impact. Everything still hurts.

Bloom writhes on the ground, flaring pain searing through every nerve. She screams in agony, but eventually it tapers off into soft groans.

“Hello?” She calls.

Her voice echoes. Where is she?

Bloom gets up on her (bandaged) hands and knees and gently pats around in front of her. Grass. It’s soft, and smells vaguely minty. She hears birds. Hears rushing water. There is wind, and the climate is a lot cooler than the tropical one of Pyros. It’s Magix.

And if all of the audio and textural input is right…

She’s in the fucking forest.

And she’s blind.

And she has no idea where she actually is. She doesn’t know which direction Alfea is in, either.

This sucks.

Bloom can’t use any magic either, lest she worsens the blindness, and she doesn’t have her phone. What the fuck is she supposed to do? Crawl around like an idiot? Try and walk? Call for help? Actually, that last option is good. Better than tripping and actually permanently injuring something.

“Help! Is anyone there? Please help me!” She cries out, sitting up on her legs. “I’m magic blind right now, I can’t see!”

For a few minutes, Bloom continues helplessly yelling. She crawls over to a tree and uses it to help her stand.

There’s rustling from behind her and she whips around, even though she can’t see.

“Bloom?” Immediately, Bloom relaxes.

“Knut? Is that you?” she breathes, almost not daring to believe that someone actually came to help her.

“Yes, it’s me.” He says. “Why are you out here? Shouldn’t you still be on Pyros?”

“I got teleported back. Inaccurately.”

Bloom feels Knut’s large, calloused hand on her shoulder. Bloom leans away from the tree and into his touch. He is far, far bigger than her, but it’s a comfort. She trusts him, even though he is a troll.

“Sorry, I accidentally overused my magic. I can’t see anything.”

“Oh!” He exclaims. “I had forgotten that magic users do that sometimes.”

“Do you not use magic?” Bloom puts her hand in his, and Knut gently starts to lead her away from the tree and in the direction of Alfea.

“I don’t have any magic? At least, I wasn’t born with any… My… my old mistresses gave me limited magic, but I suppose they took it back.”  
Bloom hums in response, stumbling over a root before regaining her footing. “That sucks. Do you still want magic?”

“I guess. I mean… Most people on this planet have some form of magic. I want to fit in, but at the same time, I like being myself?”

“Self acceptance is important!” Bloom says loudly. “It means you believe in yourself, even if no one else does!”

Knut laughs, rough but breathy, and he moves Bloom away from a puddle.

They walk (or stumble, in Bloom’s case) in silence for around ten minutes, before Knut quietly announces, “We’re here.”

Bloom puts her hand in front of her. Her hand meets brick. It’s warm and rife with magic. Bloom breathes in sharply.

“Mm, thank you. I couldn’t have made it back without you.”

“Do you need me to lead you up to your room?” Knut says, and Bloom clutches his hand tighter.

“Yes please.”

Knut leads her up to the dorms. He has to carry her up the stairs, which is mildly embarrassing, but he thinks nothing of it. Bloom is embarrassed because she can hear whispering and giggles from the other students. Of course she arrived around dinner time, when literally everyone would be going down the stairs. She feels her face flush warm and like magma in her veins.

“Don’t worry.” He says cheerfully. “I like helping. And besides, what else would I do with my strength?”

Bloom just huffs and crosses her arms. “I don’t like being a damsel in distress. I know the typical fairy stereotype is a damsel who needs saving, but I don’t.”

“You did beat me completely and utterly when I first met you!” He rumbles. Bloom chuckles.

Knut puts her down and they continue walking down the hallway. Eventually, they make it to Bloom’s dorm room. She hears faint classical music inside.

She hugs Knut goodbye. Bloom can’t wrap her arms all the way around him, but she tries anyway. She pats his face as condolences, and he snorts and puts her hand on the doorknob.

He leaves, and Bloom creaks open the door.

No one is around to help her, but she knows this dorm room inside and out. She’s lived here for three years. It’s her home.

Bloom still treads carefully though.

Something in the air makes her feel uneasy. Maybe it’s the still air, the lack of people in the room, and the cool temperature, but… something doesn’t feel quite right.

Bloom is almost in her room when a hand grabs her arm. Bloom acts on pure instinct; she lashes out, smacking the hand away and turning around to face them.

“Bloom, I thought you were supposed to be back a few hours ago!” Stella hisses. Bloom relaxes, but only minutely.

“Stella- Sorry, I thought-”

“What, what did you think? You thought about literally anything else that wasn’t us? You didn’t think we would be worried when you didn’t come back on time?” Stella says angrily. Her palms are heating up. Right. Bloom forgot that Stella has some degree of heat magic.

“Look, Stella, I’m sorry, I went magic blind and I had to stay on Pyros a bit longer, it’s okay now-”

“You’re magic blind?!” Stella shrieks. Bloom slaps a hand over Stella’s mouth. Stella shoves it away, quick and angry. “Why and how did you use enough magic to go blind?”

“Why are you so mad? It’s…” Bloom struggles for a moment, before admitted defeat. “Okay, it’s a big deal, but it’s fine. I got back safely, I’m in one piece, and I’ll heal if I don’t do anything stupid!”

“You’re stupid! You just leave for a week with barely an explanation, and then come back and say ‘Oh, sorry, I’m fucking blind! Can’t see shit!”

“I’ll heal! I literally just said that! Seriously, why are you so mad at me?!” Bloom hisses.

“I’m mad because you won’t tell me why you’re doing all this!” Stella cries. Bloom’s heart drops, into her stomach, and the dread just gets stronger.

“I’m mad because I’m your friend,” Stella continues, her voice starting to clog with tears. “I’m mad because I- I’ve been your friend for a while now, but you still won’t tell me what’s going on!”

“Stella, I…”

“No! You-” Stella probably drags her hands down her face, but Bloom can’t see. She wishes she could see her, see how she’s feeling, so she can comfort Stella. So she can make sure she feels better.

“I just want to help you! You’re p-preparing for a disaster, you’re hiding things, and you keep jumping at the smallest noises, and you- you can barely react whenever you think about those witches!”

Stella is crying now. She’s choking on her own sobs, clutching at Bloom’s shirt. Her hands are shaking even as she grips tightly. Bloom’s heart aches for Stella. She gently, gently wraps her arms around the other fairy. Stella grips her shirt harder and cries into Bloom’s chest.

“I’m sorry, Stella.” Bloom says quietly, trying not to choke on her own welling tears. “I’ve just been trying to protect you. It’s not a good excuse, I know that. But… I just don’t think I’ve been ready to admit the truth to you. Because you’re the last person I want to tell.”

“I don’t care.” Stella whispers. “I just don’t want you to see me as just… A fashionista. A ditzy princess. A fake. I know that’s what I am to people. I know. But I want to be a good friend, too. Please just let me help you.”

Bloom lets her tears fall. She runs her shaking fingers through Stella’s hair. Stella sniffles, but lets her. That alone tells Bloom how emotionally exhausted Stella is. The princess never, never lets anyone touch her hair unless she’s tired beyond words, out of pride and belief in her own ability.

Bloom wishes she could look Stella in the eyes, and see her, so she could say she was sorry, sincerely.

But she’s blind, right now.

So she just has to make do with clutching onto Stella, running her hands through the other princess’ hair in the warm evening.

It will have to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT TO THE FIC AS OF 04/08/2019: I ADDED TWO IMAGES INTO THE STORY- one in chapter 9, and one in chapter 10. i only just figured out how to add images into ao3 lollllll
> 
> anyway. yeehaw. crying. emotions. i dont know how to actually properly depict emotions oopsie


	15. the fall of civilizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which bloom goes through her day with a little bit of difficulty, classes are boring, and she has a dream of the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ THIS NOTE.
> 
> Hi! so this is actually an edit and a repost of chapter 15, because in all honesty, i was being ableist. i wasnt treating bloom's blindness as something she could learn to work around and something she could learn to adapt to, and i treated her as helpless. one of my friends pointed this out and i immediately went to fix my mistake, though it took a while. i changed it so she wasnt complete dead weight and changed it so she can learn how to go about her normal life without sight. she will heal eventually, though it will be gradual and NOT an instant, magical cure. 
> 
> in the future, if anyone sees me being disrespectful to characters of colour, characters with disabilities or anything of the sort, PLEASE, please tell me. i want to be able to fix my mistakes and i want people to read this story and feel that the representation is good and positive. 
> 
> thank you for continuing to read my heart is ablaze, i appreciate it more than you will ever know <:)

Bloom wakes up the next day, still blind.

It’s kind of a hassle, because she still has to brush her teeth and brush her hair and get dressed. But she tries.

Bloom stumbles out of bed and immediately trips over her shoes- she falls flat on her face. She tries not to cry but the shock of pain makes tears well up in her eyes.

“Bloom, are you okay?” Flora asks, confusion soaking her voice. 

“Ugh, no, I’m magic blind. I fucked up and used too many spells on Pyros.” 

“Oh no, that’s terrible! Do you need help?”

“Yes please. Pull me up?” Bloom groans, rolling onto her back and off of her shoes. Flora’s cold, soft hand gently pulls her up, and Bloom stumbles again and into Flora’s embrace.

“Thanks.” Bloom can hear Flora’s heartbeat as she leans on her. It’s beating loud and strong. Lynphean hearts pump chlorophyll and iron-rich green blood. 

“No problem.” Flora murmurs. Her voice is tender, soft, and Bloom feels warm inside.

“Do you mind helping me get clothes and stuff? Since, y’know.”

Flora laughs, her voice like windchimes. “Of course. That’s what friends are for, right?” 

Bloom turns away as she takes her shirt off over her head. Flora’s hands are suddenly warm as she hands Bloom a soft shirt. Bloom tugs it over her head.

Bloom puts her pants on next, telling Flora to look away. Flora giggles and dutifully complies.

Socks go on, and Bloom shuffles out the bedroom door with Flora. She bumps into the table outside but manages to make it to the washroom with nothing else happening to her.

 

She has to knock a few times- Musa is busy in the washroom and singing along to Melodian Pop songs. Bloom eventually hears the door creak open and hears Musa sigh. 

“Morning, nerds.” 

“Morning to you too, Musa.” Bloom laughs. She brushes her hair out of her face. It shifts away, and Bloom tucks it behind her ears.

“Woah, what’s up with your eyes?” Musa asks, her fingertips touching Bloom’s eyelids. “They’re all pale and milky. Did you-?” 

“Ugh, yes, I went magic blind like an idiot.”

Musa laughs loudly, melodic yet booming. “Oh my god, have you never learned how to avoid that? Ohhh, you’re so lucky it’s only temporary!”

“Nope! Like I said, I’m really dumb!” 

“Okay, but in all seriousness. Do you need anything? Like, how can I help?”

“You can help me by moving out of the way so Flora can help me style my hair,” Bloom snips. Musa laughs again, and Bloom smiles despite herself. Flora’s laugh is quieter but no less amused.

Flora gently tugs a brush through Bloom’s hair, braiding it and leaving two errant strands on the sides of her face. Bloom pauses her tooth brushing to fuss over it, and Musa pokes her head back in and says that Bloom looks great. Said fairy blushes hard.

Techna gently shoves Flora out of the way so she can get her eyedrops- they’re for her biomagic implants that allow her to focus her sight up to 10 times better than normal Zenithian eyesight. 

Flora gently bumps into Bloom’s back, and everyone is chattering about classes, filling Bloom in on what happened over the course of the week. Bloom brushes her hand over a paper that Techna has handed her. She still can’t read it.

Stella marches into the washroom. Bloom can’t see her of course, but feels the almost searing warmth of her hand as it passes by her to grab a hairbrush. The toothbrush or item next to it clatters to the floor as Stella marches out again, loudly complaining about what a mess her hair is. 

“Honestly! I paid so much for this conditioner, but it doesn’t even work! Ugh!”

“Did you read the label?” Techna sighs.

“No! Why would I have time for that? If I’m busy showering, I’m not going to take precious time out of it to read!”

Techna brushes past Flora and Bloom again, and Flora sighs gustily as the bobby pins she was sticking into Bloom’s hair turn awkward. Bloom takes them out.

“Stella, this bottle says that this conditioner was made specifically for Melodians and Vaonajians. It might work on some other hair types, but it says here that Solarian and Zenithian hair won’t go well with this.” Stella huffs angrily at Techna’s response. There’s a sound of magic and sparks curling through the air.

“... Well, that works too.” Techna says tiredly. 

Bloom laughs loudly at the response, curling in on herself as Flora finally finishes up the braid, patting it twice to signify that she’s done.

“Thank you, Flora.” Bloom says, smiling wide. “Don’t worry about taking me to classes- I’ll ask Techna to take me to Sigils and Runes. And Musa can take me to Composition later today.”

“Sure, no problem. Don’t let Musa forget her notes from yesterday.” Flora chirps, moving out of the way so Bloom can go get her shoes.

Bloom puts her shoes on and casts a spell to tie them. Her shoes tighten around her feet, and oh shit she put them on the wrong feet. She quickly fixes it before anyone sees. 

“Bloom, those shoes do not go with that shirt. Please stop making bad fashion choices. It’s killing me.” Stella groans, and magic swirls around Bloom’s shirt. It’s still just as soft, but she assumes Stella changed it up a bit. 

“Look, now it’s a nice, regular flowy white shirt! And it goes perfectly fine with high waisted jeans and some normal sneakers! Just tuck it into your pants.”

Bloom does so. She can feel Stella’s eyes on her, and it makes her feel warm. Her mind goes to the other day. 

“... Are you still mad at me?” Bloom asks quietly. 

“Of course I am. But first and foremost, we’re friends. And because I’m your friend, I’m going to temporarily put my anger behind me so I can help you out. You’re blind right now, Bloom.”

“Oh gee, I hadn’t noticed!”

Stella tugs on Bloom’s braid. Bloom squawks. 

“Stop being sarcastic. It’s rude.” 

Stella dodges Bloom’s hand as the fire fairy attempts to swat at her. She laughs and Bloom sighs.

Bloom holds onto Techna’s arm as they go to classes.. Before they go out the door Bloom tells Musa not to forget her notes- there is an audible shuffling of paper and a zipping noise. 

Techna is cold, and bony, and tall. That doesn’t mean she’s cold to Bloom though. She’s been learning how to express emotions properly, now that her emotional growth isn’t being stunted on Zenith.

She didn’t know how to laugh the first few weeks. But after she saw Musa and Stella tossing insults and minor hexes at each other she burst out laughing, and she snorted and giggled and fell, howling onto the couch.

Everyone in the dorm had stopped to stare for a moment, almost starstruck, before everything went back in motion and Techna composed herself.

Techna is gentle yet efficient in leading Bloom to Sigils and Runes, tugging her around corners and bringing Bloom closer to her when there are large crowds of chattering students. Of course, Bloom can’t see, but that doesn’t mean she’s helpless without her sight.

“Techna, can you just summon up a cane or something for me so I can walk on my own?”

A rush of magic later, and a cane is put into Bloom’s hand- it feels solid and metal and practical.

She swings it near to the ground experimentally and feels a wall in front of her, so she moves away. 

“Nice.” She comments, hands gripping the metal.

Techna doesn’t hold onto her again, which is a mild disappointment, but Bloom can now navigate without anyone’s physical help. She’s trash with directions though, so she might need verbal help. All in all, it’s a win.

Eventually, they sit in class. Techna pulls her over to an empty seat, and they sit next to each other. Techna tentatively puts her hand on top of Bloom’s. It’s so unexpected and sweet that Bloom smiles, eyes crinkling. 

“Welcome back, Miss Bloom. I expect that your trip wasn’t quite as you expected?”

“No, ma’am.” Bloom says, turning her body to face where Miss Delaine is- or at least where her voice is coming from. “I’m currently magic blind. I felt I should at least come to class, but I don’t think I’ll be able to take notes.”

Miss Delaine makes a clicking noise, and Bloom feels the rush of magic. An object is placed in the hand not holding the cane. Bloom runs her fingers along it. It’s a pen, obviously, with some figures and lines carved into it. 

“This will write down everything I say. It will take your notes for you. This is only until your magic blindness wears off. I expect you to review these notes when your sight is back.” Miss Delaine’s voice is stern, but has a note of fondness. Then again, Miss Delaine’s species does have two sets of vocal chords, so she could be mishearing the notes.

“Yes, Miss. Thank you very much.” 

A few minutes after Bloom sets up the pen and paper, with Techna’s help, the lesson begins. Bloom listens, but it’s mostly a recap. 

Miss Delaine talks about the importance of runes within major magic cultures and practices, such as Wizardry and Alchemy. Sigils and Runes work cohesively in some settings, but in others they vehemently reject each other. She talks about the most intense rune circles ever created, and how they were simplified once sigils got involved.

As cool as it is, Bloom’s already heard it before. It’s boring, in other words. 

Bloom can feel herself drifting off to sleep, and she submits to the urge.

-

Bloom can see. She wishes she couldn’t.

Bloom watches from space as Sparx ices over. It’s like watching a sped up video of frost covering a window, but so, so much worse.

There are explosions on the surface, halogen lights bursting before going out. People fighting back. Resisting against the cold, oppressive force. The main continent, Domino, falls silent.

Stars go out around her. She hears the ancestrals whispering evil behind her, their old, eternal hands on her shoulders.

Bloom is trapped in her skin. She cannot scream, cannot fight, cannot cry as she watches Sparx become a hollow shell of what it once was. She watches her people die, again and again and again. The stars keep going out like sparks from a fire. 

“Bloom,” A voice calls. Bloom does not turn. 

But her wings flutter into existence. Her enchantix. The dream burns away, and the cold is gone.

Her scales grow on her cheeks, and the royal blue flows down from her eyes. Her wings, more dragon-like than ever, now drip with more jewels and gold chains.

Her skirt turns wispy and more like her true, original Enchantix, and she burns like a supernova.

The ancestrals are gone but the horror and terror creeps up on her, wraps around her lungs and forces her to take in too much air, and the only way she can get it out is to scream and scream and scream. 

“Bloom!” A voice calls. Bloom can’t respond, she only writhes and screams and burns. And suddenly there’s too much air, too much terror pressing on her lungs, and she falls awake.

-

Bloom’s head hits the floor and she’s still screaming, but she can’t see anymore. She’s writhing, hands clawing at her chest as her back arches. She’s gasping for air and someone is shouting, and other students are screaming. 

Her fingers grasp her cane, before letting go. She registered it melting, faintly, the metal sliding between her fingers. 

Footsteps pound through the doors and Bloom is picked up while she is still gasping. She hears Techna’s voice, faintly, calling for Bloom. 

She feels a piercing pain in the side of her neck, and she passes out within moments, her lungs exhausted. There is something coursing through her veins, relaxing her muscles, soothing her brain.

Bloom falls asleep again. She doesn’t wake up for a very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heheheeheheh


End file.
